Letter: Snare cruelty

Congratulations to our parliament on planning the essential prosecution of both gamekeepers and landowners for the poisoning of iconic raptor birds such as the golden eagle (your report, 3 December).

However, you failed to mention that the same bill is going to permit - and in fact encourage - the indiscriminate use of snares.

Snares are not only cruel but they will often catch badgers, wildcats, otters and pine martens in addition to the species that are being targeted by the gamekeepers.

Surely if we are going to prosecute gamekeepers and landowners for poisoning raptor birds we should also prosecute gamekeepers and landowners each time they catch a protected wild animal in one of their snares.

The new bill calls for all snares to be identified by a tag, which should make the prosecution of snarers and landowners easier than with raptor birds which may have been poisoned on a different estate than the one in which the dead bird is found.

George Leslie

SNP Against Snaring

North Glassock Farm

Fenwick