Scotland rules out a ban on selling snares

Ministers have declined to act on the welfare commission’s call to outlaw sales, nearly four years after it was made and two years after the use of snares was banned north of the border.

Jim Fairlie, the minister for agriculture, marine and the islands, set out the decision in a written answer published on 18 August, closing a question that had been left hanging since Holyrood banned the use of snares two years ago. The offence will not be extended to selling them, which means a snare that cannot lawfully be set in Scotland can still be bought and sold there quite legally.

What the welfare commission asked for

Ministers had been advised otherwise. The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, which exists to advise them, set out its position on snaring in a paper published in December 2022. The recommendation ran to a single sentence: the commission “recommends that the sale of snares and their use by both public and industry are banned in Scotland, on animal welfare grounds”. Snares, it concluded, “cause significant welfare harms to members of both target and non-target species”.

One half of that recommendation reached the statute book. The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 banned the use of snares outright, with the provision coming into force on 25 November 2024. The sale limb went no further.

Why ministers will not ban sales

The minister’s answer pointed back to the Government’s own consultation of August 2023, which covered the use of snares and the powers of Scottish SPCA inspectors, and in which it proposed not to go beyond the snares already prohibited by section 11 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The argument is practical rather than one of principle: a great many of the snares being set, Mr Fairlie said, were made by practitioners from readily available materials, so banning sales would achieve little.

Self-locking snares are a separate case

One type has been off the shelves for years. Section 11(3C) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes it an offence to possess or sell a self-locking snare, and that applies across Great Britain rather than in Scotland alone. The written answer changes none of it.

What the answer does settle is that every other type stays in ordinary trade in Scotland, even though there is no lawful way left to set one there.

What it means for keepers in Scotland

In practical terms it lifts a risk that had been hanging over anyone with snares still sitting in the vermin shed. Had ministers accepted the commission’s recommendation in full, possession and sale could have followed use into the criminal law, and old kit would have turned from clutter into a liability.

Nothing has been given back, though. Snaring is still an offence in Scotland whatever equipment is used, and keepers there have spent two seasons rebuilding fox control around other lawful methods. This is a statement about what sits on shop shelves, not about what happens on the hill.

What happens next

There is no further consultation planned, and the answer commits the Government to nothing beyond the line it took in 2023. Holyrood returns from recess on 31 August, and any member wanting the sale limb reopened will have to lodge fresh questions or bring a member’s bill. The commission’s paper stands unamended, and remains the only substantive advice ministers hold from it on snaring.

Frequently asked questions

Is it legal to use a snare in Scotland?

No. Use was banned by the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, and the ban took effect on 25 November 2024.

Can snares still be bought and sold in Scotland?

Yes, with the exception of self-locking snares. Ministers confirmed on 18 August that the offence will not be extended to the sale of the other types.

Which snares are banned from sale outright?

Self-locking snares alone. Possessing or selling one is an offence under section 11(3C) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and that applies across Great Britain, not just Scotland.

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