Larsen traps using a live decoy bird are legally used across the UK to catch corvids including crows, magpies, and jackdaws for pest control. Welfare standards for the decoy bird and captured birds are regulated but compliance varies.
Corvids are among the most cognitively complex birds, with evidence of tool use, planning, and social learning. Decoy birds held for extended periods in trap compartments experience confinement stress, and birds captured in the trap cage experience acute stress from entrapment. Inadequate inspection intervals, failure to provide water in hot weather, and inhumane killing methods represent welfare failures. The intelligence of corvids makes their suffering in poor-welfare trapping scenarios particularly significant.