Big Brother winner calls for snares ban

Published on Thursday 14 February 2008 09:14

BIG Brother Celebrity Hijack winner John Loughton was joining the fight against animal cruelty today by posing outside Holyrood with a placard calling on the Scottish Government to ban snares.

The call by the aspiring politician from Pilton, who is chairman of the Scottish Youth Parliament, comes less than a week before the Government makes its announcement on the future of snaring.

He is calling on the Government to "have a heart" for animals this Valentine's Day.

Mr Loughton, 20, is backing the campaign led by Advocates for Animals and the League Against Cruel Sports. He is the 5000th person to sign a petition to the Scottish Parliament calling for snares to be banned. In a letter to the Environment Minister, Michael Russell, he called for a ban on the manufacture, sale and use of snares in Scotland.

He said: "The practice of snaring is primitive and cruel and surely no human interest can justify the suffering which these traps inflict on animals.

"Pet cats and dogs can be caught and killed by snares. No civilised country should tolerate the capture of protected species, farmed animals and pets in these indiscriminate devices."