The Truth About Snares by Dwight Rodtka (Retired provincial wildlife official).
The Truth About Snares
Snares are archaic and torturous devices which should have been banned years ago.
Snaring animals and birds has been around for as long as man has been killing them for food, clothing, profit or sport. Interestingly, the use of snares is still widespread today and snare design—after thousands of years of use—has not progressed significantly.
Despite the fact that snares are inhumane killing devices because of their inherent design (they consist of a noose of some material [now steel cable] set to “snare” an animal or bird around the body to hold or kill it), they are widely considered as “lethal/killing devices.”
The Fur Institute of Canada has certified a “humane” death for a wolf captured in a “lethal/killing” device as being irreversibly unconscious within 300 seconds of capture. Under laboratory conditions, it takes approximately eight minutes to strangle a canid (dog, wolf, coyote etc). For an eight-minute death (three minutes longer than what is considered to be humane) to occur by snaring, the snare must be positioned in an exact location on the neck – not too far ahead or too far back, and oxygen and blood flow must be stopped instantly. Furthermore, the lock must function without binding or plugging with hair etc. Since snares depend entirely on the animals own strength to tighten the noose and thereby strangle itself, there are a multitude of factors which can interfere with the snaring process.
Over the years, various modifications to snares have been made. Different styles of sliding locks have been added to the cable to hold tension on the “choke hold” the wire has on the animal, with the intent to strangle it. Springs have also been added to some snare designs with the intent to maintain tension. Breakaway snares, although touted as a solution to non target catches, are little better than regular ones. By design, breakaway snares open when a heavier and stronger animal is caught. But they must be strong enough to hold a wolf, so everything smaller or weaker dies. If a moose, elk or other large animal happens to get caught by the muzzle in a breakaway snare, or the snare tangles in flexible brush, the snare will not release. The caught animal dies a slow and horrible death.
Despite the modifications as described above, and in spite of these modifications being misleadingly portrayed as technical advances, modified snares (1) have not been tested and (2) are subject to the same and additional problems as traditional snares.
An animal can be snared anywhere on its body, depending on the animal’s movement and stance when it encounters a snare, and the snare height and diameter (which often changes because of weather and the locks’ ability to freely slide, a function dependent on wind, snow, freezing, etc.).
Wolves tend to suffer more than other animals in snares because they have extremely well muscled necks and reinforced trachea. Snared wolves that are very lucky may only live for hours; the unlucky ones take days to die.
Dr. J. Diaz, a professor in the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Calgary has researched the time it takes for canids to die from strangulation. His conclusion is that: “Death can take hours through an extremely painful and slow process.” Dr Diaz notes that he cannot comprehend the decision of government “to elicit this kind of suffering and pain to a living being.”
Since snares are clearly inhumane by any standard and should therefore be illegal, why are they are allowed here in Alberta? Because the provincial government has declared them--although they have never been officially tested—to be “lethal/killing devices!” Until proven otherwise, their use can continue. Because of this stance, animals across Alberta are doomed to suffer lingering deaths in these inhumane and barbaric torture devices.
In addition to being inhumane for the target species, the issue of snare bycatch is equally disturbing. In Alberta, thousands of snares are set on game trails, natural travel ways, or are set in abundance around a pile of carcasses set out for the express purpose of baiting wolves. It is a common practice to set out 25-100 snares around a baited location (a practice known as saturation snaring) so that an entire wolf pack will be caught.
However, myriad other species, including deer, moose, elk, eagles, lynx, cougars, bighorn sheep, bears, wolverines and small mammals, are also caught in these snares. Referred to as “bycatch” or “non target,” these animals also suffer painful and lingering deaths. Surely we should not be torturing and squandering our precious public resources in this manner!
Bycatch Example—Alberta Fish and Wildlife recently authorized the use of 12-15 snares to a rancher in the Rocky Mountain House area because of wolf depredation problems. In one week, these traps snared and caused the deaths of one wolf pup, one or two whitetail deer, one black bear and one grizzly bear. If this typical example is extrapolated to the thousands of snares blanketing the west country, the magnitude of bycatch killing could be staggering. Even yearling cattle have been found with snares around their legs.]
In addition to them being torture devices, the absurd status that snares have as “lethal/killing devices” means that there are no monitoring requirements placed on their deployment. It is perfectly legal in Alberta to set the snare in October and not check it until the end of March. The wolf (or whatever other animal or bird happens to get caught) suffers until it dies. The wolf’s fur is worth little, but the bounty is still paid, and the by catch does not need to be reported, so why bother?
Snares also present a serious danger to pets, as pets can inadvertently end up in wolf snares when accompanying skiers or hikers. Bait stations also pose a public risk because, during the spring, the risk of encountering bears at these wolf baits (which have now become bear baits) is significantly escalated. Hunters who bait bears, coyotes and wolves are required to post warning notices around their baits. Those setting out snares are not required to post any warning signage in the area.
So why are these snares allowed? The answer is simple—wolf snaring is now a recreational sport. There is a $300-$500 bounty being paid on every dead wolf by local governments or one of the secret bounties paid by the Alberta Fish and Game Association, the Wild Sheep Foundation and the Alberta Trappers Association!
Surely we should be outraged by this unconscionable practice. Write letters and call your MLA – demand that the Alberta government bring wolf management and treatment into the 21st century!