Snare trapping captures animals by the leg or body, causing prolonged suffering before the trapper returns. Understanding the welfare science of snaring informs advocacy for stronger regulation or prohibition.
Snaring causes prolonged suffering that is difficult to justify on welfare grounds when alternative methods exist. Animals caught in snares experience the initial capture trauma, prolonged restraint stress lasting hours to more than a day, injuries from struggling, and vulnerability to predation and weather. Non-target captures are common and cause the same welfare harm to animals for which no pest control justification exists. The welfare case for prohibition or much stricter regulation - mandatory short check intervals, free-running designs only, mandatory non-target exclusion devices - is strong. Countries that have prohibited snaring have demonstrated that alternative pest control methods are adequate.