snares

[baldrick]

If anyone has ever considered using snares to protect chickens or game birds please please don't. I thought they were illegal until one of my dogs got caught in one on Friday. had she not been walking at my side she would have been dead by I found her as she could neither cry out or breathe. Apparently free running snares are perfectly legal provided you check them daily and they ar not set in areas frequented by certain protected species. However there is no legal definition of daily so I could have checked a snare at 6am today then plan to check it tomorrow night. In that time an animal that isnt lucky enough to strangle itself can lie without food, water or shelter, scared and in pain only to be shot hours after it is caught. National Anti Snare Campaign figures quote as much as 70% non target species caught in these vile traps. There are many many cases of domestic pets choking to death after who knows how long a struggle. So please please, whatever you think about "vermin" like foxes and rabbits, even if you think the only good fox is a dead fox don't do this as your family pet could be next. I dread a fox taking my chickens, and could probably kill anything or anyone with my bare hands if I caught them hurting my girls but nothing can justify using these things. Sorry for the rant but she has just refused to eat her tea for the second day on the trot so Ive gone all angry again. GGRRRR!

[binley100]

aw poor lass.....try her with some soft scrambled egg . her throats probably sore. And i totally agree with you , an inhumane way for any animal to get caught..

[Hilary B]

Whose land? Surely only the landowner, or someone working with their consent, could legally set the things anyway!

[veggiechicken]

Baldrick, I'm so sorry about your poor dog I hope she recovers soon. I would cheerfully put the snare-setter into one of their own snares and leave them there to feel what its like. Probably forget to release them too.

[Nicos]

Baldrick- is she eating now?
I just wondered if she's damaged something in her throat and needs to see the vet.
I'd have thought there must be some swelling or something as a reaction?
Hope she's eating- and improving xx

This brings back memories of about 35 years ago when I was walking with a friend and her dog through a wood and her dog didn't come to call. We retraced our steps only to find him in a wire snare- pulled tightly around his neck.
He too was badly shaken for a few days.
So cruel.

[cptncrackoff]

I saw a fox trapped in a snare once, it was going absolutely mental. it wasnt the most humane event i have ever seen and i am sorry to hear of your pets coming to harm.

Fox snares should have a stop on them, to prevent them closing up totally, saying that rabbit snares dont.
If it was a fox snare (two piece, thick silver coloured snare) and it didnt have a stop it is illegal and should be reported, if it was smaller and golden in colour it was probably a rabbit snare.

[polo]

Oh that's awful, really awful. Hope pooch is feeling better soon! Terribly inhumane way to catch animals and I would prefer they were were more restricted in their use.

Polo

[RichmondHens]

I saw a fox trapped in a snare once, it was going absolutely mental. it wasnt the most humane event i have ever seen and i am sorry to hear of your pets coming to harm.

Fox snares should have a stop on them, to prevent them closing up totally, saying that rabbit snares dont.
.

You can get rabbit snares with stops, we use them occasionally. Rabbit gets caught overnight. Sits and waits ('cos it can't do anything else) till morning and is then shot.

[cptncrackoff]

oops, i stand corrected, the ones i have seen/used didnt! i despatch the old fashion way, with the high price of lead.

[FionaH]

I am firmly in the foxes are vermin camp, but snares are just bloody cruel

[Aberdeenplotter]

My view as well but it also shouldn't be forgotten how cruel foxes can be and they kill just for the hell of it.

[petal]

much better to use a humane fox trap- one of those cage type affairs and then despatch it humanely once caught. no animal should experience stress. We only have problems with foxes when a twit from an urban environment releases one out in the country- where it can't catch wild food and has no natural fear of people and houses. the local game keeper has shot several 'urban releases' (you can tell by jaw formation) this year- all suffering and emaciated- they only know how to cope in the city. now thats worse than snaring even!
Hope your dog is feeling better soon Baldrick. Do bear in mind that if a dog got caught in a snare and actually died over several hours until it was discovered- it was a neglected dog in the first place- neither of us would leave our dogs alone for long!

[Hilary B]

Petal, that said, a well-loved dog might wander out of sight, get caught, and the owner not be able to locate it in time.

[Polly Fouracre]

Baldrick, please try to stay calm. Your poor bitch may think you are cross with her. Give her a spoonful of honey every hour or so, that will ease her throat.

[TEB]

We only have problems with foxes when a twit from an urban environment releases one out in the country- where it can't catch wild food and has no natural fear of people and houses. the local game keeper has shot several 'urban releases' (you can tell by jaw formation) this year- all suffering and emaciated- they only know how to cope in the city. now thats worse than snaring even!
long!

I am sure there are isolated incidents of dumping urban foxes in the country but there (AFAIK) never been one conviction, nor has anyone had the werewithal to even take a number plate when some farmer or yokel say that they have seen lorry loads of foxes being dumped. There were reports of pest control agencies and the odd council that have done it, unless you are talking about the 1800's when large numbers of foxes were imported from mainland Europe and dumped in the country.
And as to the a urban fox having a different jaw formation, it must be because of more availability of dentists in our towns and cities, must say its better than the usual you can tell an urban fox because "their claws are shorter".
Sarcoptic mange is a nasty killer of foxes that affect urban foxes more than country foxes because of the higher concentrations in a smaller area, this is one reason for urban foxes emaciated appearance because an urban fox has a 15 times more availabilty of food than a country fox and has no reason to be emaciated especially with the number of people feeding them.

PS Neither a fox lover or hater, I regard them as a beautiful animal that I would deter or kill as necessary if I found one trying to get to my chickens, otherwise I leave them alone.