Snares do not render a quick and painless death.  They are inhumane and should be immediately phased out.  In the interim, snares should require a 24 hour mandatory check-time to alleviate suffering and release non-target victims.

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KEY POINTS:

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1. Killing snares are not required to meet standards set forward by the Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards (AIHTS)

2. Due to the musculature and anatomy of wild canids killing snares cause prolonged and excruciating suffering

3. Snares are cheap and easy to make and therefor widely used 

4. The scientific community is making a strong case against the inhumaneness of neck-killing snares and their lack selectivity

 

A recent article titled Humaneness and Selectivity of Killing Neck Snares Used to Capture Canids in Canada: A Review by Dr. Gilbert Proulx and other wildlife experts appeared in the Canadian Journal of Wildlife Biology and Management.  In this review, the authors reveal that although killing neck snares are used on trap-lines across Canada, they have a strong impact on animal welfare, and they are not subject to trap performance criteria set out in the Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards (AIHTS).

 

Dwight Rodtka, a retired predator control specialist  for the Alberta government and an expert on snares, has this to say about them:

 

"A snare is one of the oldest and deadliest devices we use to capture animals, birds, and fish. After hundreds of years their design is still archaic and causes a lengthy torturous death.

 

They are cheap, easy to use, and very effective, thus their popularity. Death is supposed to be caused by strangulation and a stoppage of blood flow to and from the brain. Under field conditions this can take anywhere from several minutes to days or longer because of the high variability of snare positioning on the body, a malfunctioning lock, weather conditions, or the gait of the animal. In real life death is often caused by dehydration, exhaustion, or freezing. "

 

In addition, killing snares are not specific in what species they target, and can cause extended suffering to many non-intended animals. They review reminds us that Endangered Species are killed incidentally in snares, and even animals such as moose , caribou , and deer  have been captured and killed in snares intended for canids.