BASC has condemned an anti-snaring propaganda video released by the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) for showing a crime rather than the reality of humane and legal pest-control.
The film features a man jogging through woods before he is trapped around the neck by a snare. It has been released as part of an emotive and inaccurate campaign to ban snares, which are an important tool for conservation.
Tim Russell, BASC’s director of conservation, said: “This film is nothing but scaremongering propaganda. This is intentional misrepresentation, designed to play on people’s emotions.
“Snares are not designed to kill, they are designed to restrain. This is another lie from the League. They are running from the truth on snares.”
Snares are a well-regulated widely-used tool for managing pest species in the countryside in situations where other methods would be impractical, ineffective or dangerous.
Modern snares are designed to restrain; they have several built-in features such as stops, swivels and breakaway links to ensure animal welfare. The League knows this, but fails to acknowledge any regulation and animal-welfare measures associated with modern snaring.
Those who understand conservation know that fox and rabbit control is necessary to ensure that damage to crops, livestock, trees, game and other wildlife and their habitats must be managed to acceptable levels to maintain rural biodiversity.
BASC also highlights that snaring is the scientific method of choice for live capture of animals – as utilised by the Krebs badger trials and snow leopard monitoring schemes in the Himalayas. The League chose not to mention these in a deliberate attempt to deceive audiences by playing on their emotions.
Tim Russell added: “We are always happy to take people out to show them the reality of snaring, rather than the League’s deliberate misrepresentation of what actually happens on the ground – that offer still stands, even for the League.”