from Sunday Herald, 14 February 2010
The refusal of Scottish Nationalist ministers to abide by party policy and ban the snaring of wild animals has sparked growing discontent within the ranks of the SNP.
One party official has resigned in disgust, others are known to be unhappy and several SNP MSPs have signalled their opposition. Snaring, they say, is cruel and inhumane, sometimes forcing innocent animals to slowly strangle themselves.
Snares are thin wire slip nooses used by gamekeepers to trap foxes and other animals to try and prevent them killing pheasants or grouse. The aim is to ensure that there are plenty of birds to be shot by paying visitors.
But animal welfare campaigners say the traps inflict pain and death on other animals that get caught, like badgers, mountain hares and household pets. It is impossible to police their use, they argue.
Following pressure from members, the SNP’s national council agreed a motion in December 2008 calling on ministers to review their decision not to ban snares. But this has been ignored by the government, which instead has just published new rules tightening up on the use of snares, but not outlawing them.
Roy Jeffs was so appalled at the government’s failure to act, that he has resigned as secretary of the Forfar branch of the SNP, and as a member of the party. He accused the environment minister, Roseanna Cunningham, of repeatedly ignoring democratically agreed party policy.
Jeffs argued that 79 per cent of the Scottish public, 85 per cent of vets and all Scotland’s 32 local authorities were opposed to snaring. “I cannot support a government that is so out of touch with the views on animal welfare of its own party members and of the great majority of people in Scotland,” he told the Sunday Herald.
In a letter to Jeffs, Cunningham defended her position by arguing that there was “confusion” between government and SNP policy. “Contrary to popular misapprehension, the two are not one and the same,” she said.
“While a stance against snaring is now part of SNP policy, this has not been endorsed in an election manifesto and as such the Scottish government has no mandate to introduce it. The government’s position therefore remains unchanged.”
Cunningham’s refusal to budge has also disappointed fellow MSPs and MPs, several of whom are known to be against snaring. “I’m wholly opposed to snaring and the government know that,” said the SNP MSP for the South of Scotland, Christine Grahame.
“I’m glad they’ve gone some way to control it but I don’t think they’ve gone far enough,” she added. “There will still be animals which will suffer, with some being garrotted.”
The SNP MSP for North Cunninghame, Kenneth Gibson, has signed up to Scottish parliamentary motions calling for a ban on snaring, as have the Livingston SNP MSP, Angela Constance, and the Glasgow SNP MSP, Anne McLaughlin. At the Westminster parliament, two SNP MPs have supported anti-snaring motions in the past: Pete Wishart and Stewart Hosie.
Libby Anderson, the policy director of Advocates for Animals in Edinburgh, estimated that 80% of SNP members wanted to see snaring banned. “The Scottish government's continued support for snaring flies in the face of public opinion,” she said.
“The SNP has told the Scottish government that it wanted its pro-snaring policy reviewed and now individual members and local branches are reminding them of that fact.”
Anderson argued that the new regulations, while an improvement, would not stop wild animals and pets from suffering in snares. “The only way to end this cruelty is to ban snares once and for all,” she stated.
According to the Green MSP, Robin Harper, it was perfectly possible to manage a rural estate without snaring. “If the parties in Holyrood voted according to their policies, snaring could have banned as soon as the SNP were allowed to form a minority government in 2007,” he said. “Sadly, they bottled it.”
But the Scottish government stressed that snaring played “an essential role” in effective countryside management. “However we recognise that procedures need to be tightened up to ensure they are only used in the right circumstances by people with the right skills,” said a government spokesman.
The SNP welcomed the initiatives being taken by the government. According to a party spokesman, this included its “approach to continually review the decision not to ban the outright use of snares through investigating the success of alternative wildlife conservation methods as they are put into use.”
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