Minister in spotlight as snared badger numbers soar

Monday, 11 January 2010 14:39

Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham MSP will today be quizzed by the Public Petitions Committee on the Government’s policy on snaring. This session coincides with the release of new figures showing the number of badgers being trapped in illegal snares. In 2009 of the 19 cases recorded by Scottish Badgers, all but one were deemed to be criminal.

The Scottish Parliament's Public Petition’s Committee decided at a meeting in December last year to invite the Minister to give oral evidence after discussing Petition 1124 calling on a ban on snaring. The petition was submitted in March 2008 by Advocates for Animals and the League Against Cruel Sports and is supported by almost 11,000 signatures.

The Committee has written to the Scottish Government several times since the petition was lodged in 2008 calling for clarification on issues regarding snare use but has now agreed the Government had failed to answer many of these questions adequately. Almost two years ago, the Government decided to allow snaring to continue and proposed to regulate it more strictly but even that has not happened.

Libby Anderson, Policy Director for Advocates for Animals added: “As Petitioners we have given the Committee a great deal of evidence of the suffering caused to Scotland’s wild animals, and some domestic animals too, by the continued use of snares. The Public Petitions Committee has studied the arguments and wants clear answers from the Minister regarding the Scottish Government’s continued support for snaring.”

View our recent Investigation into snaring