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Killing neck snares: simple design, significant suffering

From The Fur-Bearers
October 2023

The trap consists of a wire loop that is designed to catch animals by the neck, tightening as animals struggle to free themselves. Snares strangle animals to death, but in many cases, they fail, leaving animals to suffer for extended periods of time with the cable constricting their necks. Snares are the main method used to kill animals for their pelts for the fur trade.

neck snares

Snares are a commonly used trap to kill wildlife in Canada, but it is absent from an international agreement on trapping standards that Canada is a party to. In 1999, The Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards (AIHTS) was ratified between Canada, Russia, and the European Union. This legally-binding agreement was created to establish welfare standards for traps, in part so that Canadian fur products could be sold on the European market in the commerical fur trade, with a promise that animals are trapped using “humane” trapping methods.

Several traps used in Canada are “certified humane” under this agreement, such as Conibears and leg-holds (we firmly believe no traps on this list are humane, and there has been considerable research showing the problems with this agreement and the traps themselves). Notably absent in this agreement and the AIHTS-certified trap list are killing neck snares. This is despite their widespread use to kill wildlife in Canada.

One study notes that less than 50% of canids caught in snares lose consciousness within 5 minutes. For a killing trap to meet the AIHTS standards, at least 80% of animals must become unconscious leading to death within this time limit. The failure of killing neck snares to kill animals instantly reveals why they not certified traps under the AIHTS. But despite this, they’re used across Canada to kill wildlife for the commercial fur trade.

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Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE.

 

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