Wire snares cause indiscriminate suffering to wildlife globally. Snare removal programs prevent welfare harm for non-target species and protect endangered animals.
Wire snares cause some of the most prolonged and severe suffering inflicted on wild animals by human activity. Animals caught in snares experience the acute pain of wire cutting into skin, panic-driven injury from escape attempts, and then hours to days of immobility, dehydration, and exposure before death or discovery. Snares are completely indiscriminate — designed to catch bushmeat species, they capture lions, leopards, wild dogs, and any other animal of appropriate size. Snare removal programs that employ and train local community members to systematically patrol and remove snares provide both direct welfare benefit — preventing thousands of animal captures annually in active programs — and community employment that reduces incentives for snare setting. Supporting these programs is among the most directly impactful wild animal welfare interventions available.