Ban on snares in Wales set to go ahead as Ministers ignore threats to biodiversity and livestock

The Welsh Government's "historic first Welsh Agriculture Bill" opens with lines promoting their intention to ban snares in Wales, it can now be revealed.

The Bill is set to "pave the way for ambitious and transformational legislation to support farmers, sustainable food production, and to conserve and enhance the Welsh countryside, culture and language" yet immediately highlights their intention to ban all snares.

However, Countryside Alliance Wales has questioned where priorities lie in the Bill's presentation and that it shows no regard for the negative impact such a ban will have on biodiversity in Wales, for example, when using snares to protect ground nesting birds like curlew from predators or when protecting vulnerable livestock like lambs.

The Welsh Government renewed their code of practice for the use of snares in fox control in 2015, which was rubber stamped by a number of stakeholders including the League Against Cruel Sports.

The code set out best practice methods as well as committing to the use of code compliant snares – a major step forward for the welfare of targeted species and reducing the risk of non-target captures. Many meetings were subsequently held with Welsh Government and other stakeholders including the Countryside Alliance, police forces across Wales and the RSPCA, but no meetings have been scheduled by Welsh Government officials since 2018.

In February 2022 Director for Wales Rachel Evans met with both Julie James MS, the Minister for Climate change and Lesley Griffiths MS, Minister for Rural Affairs and both Ministers were keen to further the discussion around snares and a possible alternative. Lesley Griffiths MS stated that she would be very happy to meet with stakeholders to discuss snares but despite several attempts to facilitate this, her office failed to respond.

Rachel Evans Director for Countryside Alliance Wales said: "There are many questions to be asked about the journey undertaken by the Government to reach this decision to implement an outright ban. This announcement claims that snares "catch animals indiscriminately, causing great deal of suffering" but as it clearly states in their own code of practice for code compliant snares, 'If you follow the advice in this Code you should be operating within the law regarding animal welfare and avoiding non-target species'."

Ms Evans added: "We seem to have a government at odds with its intentions and the practicalities of delivering on those intentions for Wales. On one hand they underpin policies on the biodiversity crisis and throw money at protecting the Curlew, but then take away one of the most vital tools in the box for delivering positive outcomes".

The manufacturing of snares has moved forward dramatically in recent years, but these scientific led developments seemed to have so far, been ignored. No alternative method of fox control has been recognised to replace the snare."

The Minister will be making a legislative statement in Plenary on 27 September 2022. A copy of the Bill and its supporting documentation is available on the Senedd website.