The Welsh Assembly has opted to keep current laws in place regarding snaring, after considering a petition that called for a ban on the use, sale and manufacture of snares.
The League Against Cruel Sports had used data described as containing “extraordinary inaccuracies” to promote the petition, and shooting organisations including the Countryside Alliance, National Gamekeepers’ Organisation and Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust had presented a letter to the Assembly’s petitions committee in a bid to highlight the facts.
Having considered the submissions, the Petitions Committee decided that the recently published Welsh Code of Best Practice on the Use of Snares in Fox Control, and meetings already scheduled to monitor the Code’s success, were sufficient. No further action beyond monitoring this process was deemed necessary.
Rachel Evans, Countryside Alliance director for Wales, said: “We are pleased that this petition, based as it was on very dodgy data, has had no real effect on the Welsh Assembly. We do however feel it is important that petitions be based on sound evidence, and we are concerned that the Petitions Committee felt unable to consider the factual inaccuracies we so clearly highlighted in LACS’ submission.
“Rural policy-making must not be reduced to simply gaining signatures by fair means or foul, particularly as LACS and their allies are increasingly relying on these methods to drive their campaigns.”
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