Defra pushing to ban snares in England ‘as swiftly as possible’

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is “actively looking to bring a ban on snares into force as swiftly as possible”, minister Jenny Riddell-Carpenter said in a written answer on Wednesday, 28 October, the firmest language yet on a change that would remove a fox control tool from keepered ground in England.

What exactly did the minister say?

Answering Chris Hinchliff (Labour, North East Hertfordshire), who asked what steps were being taken to legislate on snares in England, the minister said in full: “This Government has a commitment to bring an end to the use of snare traps in England, as stated in the response given on 1 July 2026 to PQ UIN 12963. This was reaffirmed in this Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy, published in December 2025. Such a change will require primary legislation, and Defra is actively looking to bring a ban on snares into force as swiftly as possible.”

Previous answers had restated the commitment without urgency; “actively looking” and “as swiftly as possible” are new, though no bill is named and no date given.

What would a ban mean for keepers?

Modern code-compliant humane cable restraints are used by gamekeepers for fox control, particularly in spring when protecting ground-nesting birds such as curlew and lapwing, where alternatives are limited at night and in cover. The timing cuts against the newest science on the Government’s own desk: the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s peer-reviewed study, published this month, found legal predator control on pheasant release sites is likely holding fox numbers at or below the levels of the surrounding farmland, underlining how much lowland conservation leans on effective fox control. A ban would follow the road Wales took: the use of snares and glue traps has been illegal there since 17 October 2023 under the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023, the first ban of its kind in the UK, with the offences written into the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and penalties running to an unlimited fine or imprisonment.

What happens next

Any ban needs primary legislation, so the measure must find a bill. The answer gives no timetable, and no draft bill, programme slot or commencement plan has been published, which leaves the practical question, what replaces the restraint in spring predator control, unaddressed. Shooting and gamekeeping organisations are expected to press for workable alternatives and transition time once a vehicle is named, and the desk will report their responses as they come.