Ahjno,
Rabbit snares
should be constructed with 3 or 4 -stranded brass wire (doubled so that whilst there are 3-4 strands around the eye, there are 6-8 in the noose) with a loop of 4 (10 cm) diameter for the head of the rabbit. The snare must have a fixed stop about 5 (14 cm) from the eye of the snare.
Legitimate target species
Snares are used most commonly in fox and rabbit control but are also set for a variety of other purposes including, for example, to capture rabbits for food and foxes in research programmes. In addition to fox and rabbit other target species that can legally be snared include rats, grey squirrels and mink.
Assessing your ground
Before using snares or other capture/control methods, an assessment should be made to determine whether the need (eg regarding damage or the threat of damage) is sufficient to warrant action being taken, taking into account the possible welfare impact on target animals and any risks to non-target species. Where capture/control is deemed to be necessary then an assessment should also be made of the most appropriate method to use, again taking into account the welfare impact on target animals and any risks to non-target species, and steps should be taken to minimise these risks.
Free running snares
This is the basic type of legal snare. The wire is threaded through a simple eyelet at one end, allowing free movement of the wire in both directions. The noose should relax when a caught animal struggles, reducing the chance of strangulation. However, snares designed to be free running often begin to act as self-locking if they become rusty, kinked or matted with the hair of captured animals. Care of snares is therefore of paramount importance
Laws covering snares
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is an offence to set in position any trap or snare calculated (intended) to cause bodily injury to any wild animal included in Schedule 6 of that Act which comes into contact with it, or to use a trap or snare for the purpose of killing such a wild animal; relevant species listed in Schedule 6 include badger, polecat, otter, red squirrel, hedgehog and pine marten. Snaring of protected species is not permitted unless the person has been authorised by a specific licence under section 16 of the Act.
The Deer Act 1991 makes it an offence to set in position any trap or snare calculated to cause bodily injury to any deer coming in contact with it, or to use any trap or snare for the purpose of killing or taking any deer.
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 the use of a self-locking snare is unlawful; only free-running snares can lawfully be set. The term self-locking is not defined in the Act and there has been no successful prosecution within a court high enough to clarify the law by legal precedent.
In Scotland, the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 contains the same ban on self-locking snares, but goes further to make it a crime to sell or possess a self-locking snare
In Northern Ireland the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 prevents the use of self-locking snares.
Checking snares
How often a snare must be inspected varies slightly . The situationin England and Wales, where the law says that snares must be checked every day.can mean an animal can be trapped in a snare for up to 48 hours, as the snare may be checked just after midnight one day, and just before midnight the next.
In Scotland, the law says that snares must be checked every 24 hours.
In Northern Ireland, the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 requires that snares are inspected at least once every day between sunrise and sunset.
The Deer Act 1991 makes it an offence to set a snare to catch a deer
For me, its dawn AND dusk according to the best practice guide (lots of good info in this too)
http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/vertebrates/snares/pdf/snares-cop.pdf
Hope that helps
Red
