The case for allowing snares for research purposes in Scotland

The National Anti Snaring Campaign commissioned Professor Stephen Harris to
examine the case for allowing snares for research purposes in Scotland. We asked
him to undertake this review because of the Scottish Government’s intention to bring
forward amendments at Stage 2 of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn
(Scotland) Bill 2023 to ban the use of snares in Scotland. His report was presented
as part of a consultation that finished on October 4th.

We asked Professor Harris to undertake this review to pre-empt the some of the
intense lobbying that the Welsh government had when the shooting lobby wanted to
cling onto this loophole. Professor Harris is the foremost expert in the world on fox
ecology, behaviour and population biology. In his review, he considered the need to
use snares to study foxes, the animal welfare implications of using snares to catch
foxes for research, the ethical implications of using snares for research purposes,
and whether any study that used snares to catch foxes would be likely to meet the
ethical standards for publication in a reputable scientific journal.

Professor Harris examined 100 scientific papers on fox research in Scotland
published since 1970. Many of these were landmark studies. Some of the earlier
papers showed that the major influence on fox numbers on Scotland was food
supply, not how many were being killed by people. More recent studies have
examined the number and distribution of foxes in Scotland, the economic impact of
fox predation on sheep, parasites of economic importance, and the impact of fox
predation on ground-nesting birds. None of these studies used snares to catch foxes
for research purposes. Furthermore, a number of new research techniques, such as
molecular genetics, stable isotopes, video recording and camera trapping, and
identifying individual foxes from their physical appearance, have become available to
scientists. None of these techniques require that a fox is caught in a snare.

When considering the animal welfare implications, Professor Harris examined the
law and views of such organisations as the British Veterinary Association. He quotes
their powerful statement that, “The potential negative animal welfare impacts (of
snares) are significant.” Furthermore, “The speed at which welfare begins to be
impacted is rapid (seconds from the moment of restraint)”. The Scottish Animal
Welfare Commission also concluded “that snares cause significant welfare harms to
members of both target and non-target species”, and recommended that “the sale of
snares and their use by both public and industry are banned in Scotland, on animal
welfare grounds”. It is notable that they also included a ban on industry use: this is
because all the evidence shows that trained/professional operators catch just as
many non-target species, and cause just as many animal welfare problems.

On the ethical implications, he details the requirements of the Animals (Scientific
Procedures) Act 1986. There are numerous quotes from organisations such as The
Royal Society which condemns research that “causes unreasonable harm to humans
and animals.” The need to adhere to the highest animal welfare standards when
undertaking wildlife research are encapsulated in a number of recent scientific
papers. Professor Harris concludes that “It is extremely unlikely that the ethics
committee of a reputable research organisation would sanction the use of snares to
catch foxes for research.”

Finally, as part of the drive to improve animal welfare standards in research, most
reputable scientific journals have introduced ethics policies and/or ethical
committees that review submitted papers and only consider them for publication if

the research was conducted in accordance with the highest animal welfare
standards for both target and non-target species. It is extremely unlikely that any
reputable scientific journal would accept a paper for publication that used snares to
catch foxes.

Professor Harris concluded that “There is no scientific case to permit the use of
snares to catch foxes for scientific research in Scotland.”

Report: The Case for Allowing Snares for Research Purposes in Scotland