Trapping and Snaring

Trapping and snaring are methods which can be legitimately used for the control of some types of wildlife such as corvids, rodents or foxes. This may be for conservation purposes, to protect agricultural or sporting interests or for human health and safety reasons. However, the use of traps and snares is subject to legal restrictions designed to prevent harm to non-target species or unnecessary cruelty.

There were 11 trapping and snaring recorded crimes in 2022-23, a five year low.
Figure 22: Trapping and snaring offences, 2018-19 to 2022-23.

Figure 22 shows the number of offences that involved trapping and snaring and is a further breakdown of the data already presented in this section of the report (Wildlife crime priority areas). Only one of the trapping and snaring offences in 2022-23 related to a priority area (badger persecution), hence all others were included in the “not aligned to a priority area” data presented earlier in Figure 14. 

Of the 11 offences in 2022-23, 9 related to the use of snares, with the remaining 2 involving the use of traps. For most (7) offences the target species was unknown.

Further detail: on trapping and snaring offences by police division, type of trap/snare, target species and time of year is provided in Tables 49 and 50 of the Tables supporting document.