Defra has today published its Animal Welfare Strategy which sets out the government’s priorities for improving animal welfare in England, and the steps it believes are needed to deliver them to better protect domestic, farmed, and wild animals across the country by 2030.
The government is committed to delivering the most ambitious animal welfare programme in a generation, with tighter regulation and effective enforcement. Its manifesto pledges will be delivered as part of the strategy, and for shooting this includes banning the use of ‘snare traps’, on which the government has said it will consult. A ban on the sale and use of non-code compliant snares is supported, but we will continue to fight a ban on the use of code compliant Humane Restraints that not only meet, but exceed the requirements of the Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards.
As the name implies, these are a restraining, rather than killing, device, and they are one of a range of essential measures used to manage certain species, the control of which underpins agricultural production, farm animal husbandry, the sustainable harvesting of gamebirds, and the protection of species of the highest conservation concern including the curlew. Specifically, Humane Restraints are a legitimate and effective form of fox control, especially in habitats where other control techniques are either ineffective or impracticable. In addition, the government will also be reviewing the use of other traps used to catch wildlife for which welfare concerns have been raised, and this will include spring traps and live capture traps used to catch corvids, the use of which are already strictly regulated by General Licence.
The government is also to consider how to bring forward a close season for brown hares during their breeding season to help safeguard leverets. By law, it is only legal for hares to be sold between 1 August and 28 February for that very reason, although they can still be shot throughout the year if they are damaging crops where their numbers have increased significantly, and it is questionable whether introducing statutory legislation will help hare populations which during the period 1994 – 2025 saw a 35% increase according to figures published by the British Trust for Ornithology.
The government has said it will consult with stakeholders on these and other elements within the strategy, and we will continue to work closely with them to ensure that any changes in legislation are based on science and evidence, and that they are both workable and proportionate. The Animal Welfare Strategy can be read here.