This distressing image, taken yesterday, is of a Red Squirrel caught in a spring trap near an area of game shooting in Scotland.
Unfortunately, although the SSPCA attended, the animal died.
The police are informed.
I won’t say more at this stage.
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This is no where near a well enough excluded entrance.
In any case, Spring traps should not be used where Red Squirrel are known, or suspected, to
be present.
Nor used at all on any creature, IMO.
It’s cruelty, pure and simple.
No, of course I don’t understand this issue – but I think I can recognise cruelty when I see it.
I await the dislikes.
‘I await the dislikes’ – but not from me.
I don’t know the details of this particular case, but these traps tend to be placed all around the moorland edge on grouse moors, including areas directly bordering trees and woodland. Even better restricted ones than this will often catch greys, so they must be able to catch reds if they’re present in the area.
The fact that a protected animal is caught in the trap means as Trapit says the restricted entrance is not restricted enough, and he should know. That being the case I would prosecute for non compliance with the law. Failing that a working man trap placed at the at the entrances of all the keepers houses on this estate might get the message across. Yes I know that is harsh but it would get the message across in no uncertain terms.
Great idea! I’ve known about man traps since I was a little boy, but only found out about spring guns in Mark Cocker’s book ‘Our Place’ – set with a trip wire so they’d blast trespassers/poachers, apparently children were occasionally killed by them. Another part of the ‘glorious’ gamekeeper heritage that gets swept under the carpet, like the point many of us grew up with no realistic chance to see red kites, pine marten, raven, otters, goshawk or even buzzard where we lived because of their efforts. Great legacy eh? This is an absolute gem I came across when I googled Spring Guns and there’s an attitude of entitlement with some that’s still so familiar https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1827/mar/23/spring-guns-bill
Interesting reference Les, I recall a conversation with a grouse keeper in I think 86 or 87 when I worked for RSPB. Said keeper who did not want us on the estate he was on but had no choice as we had permission off his employer said that what he really wanted to do was set the working man traps and spring guns that were still in the keepers store on the estate along the boundary to keep us off. Such devices were made illegal in 1827, one wonders when they were last deployed on that estate?
Another charming rural character straight from the Archers. I’ve heard that man traps were still used after being made illegal and in fact there’s a reference to this in of all places the Ealing comedy ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’, which I doubt many people over a certain age will not have seen – the landowner gets caught in one. I wouldn’t be surprised if spring guns were used way past being made illegal too. These artifacts might be finally gone from actual use, but the mentality that justified them is still there, clearly if you’re not part of their clique you’re in an underclass as the Kinder Scout Trespass underlined.
I knew for decades that rhododendron had been originally planted out for among other things game cover, but that was a long time ago, 19th century it began, and thought we all know better now so it wasn’t really a relevant criticism of ‘sporting’ estates today. That was right up until and purely by accident I came across a copy of a letter on the internet from Hugo Straker of the then GCT (before they tacked Wildlife on to it) about making exemptions to the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Bill to allow the planting of non native plant species for game cover. Even when the letter was written in 2007 most of the plants he listed were known invasives. Today while thousands of volunteers and millions of pounds are spent trying to rid us of invasive species like cherry laurel and snowberry shoots are still planting them out, a conservation scandal. The arrogance of this bunch never went away, they are no more bothered about people’s homes being flooded because of their activities now than they were about people maimed by traps then and conservation has always been a joke with them. Truly archaic and the sooner gone the better.
Barbaric device
I hope the police do take action. I see it’s illegal to intentionally kill a red squirrel. But it’s the “intent” part that makes these laws unfit for purpose. From 1st April it will be illegal to kill stoats using Fenn traps. In the autumn I found a stoat killed this way on a grouse moor and asked my local police force if the Fenn traps at that location would have to be removed – there’s clearly a stoat population there. The reply was that intent needs to be proved and Fenn traps remain legal for target species such as weasel and grey squirrel. There are still hundreds of set Fenn traps on Peak District grouse moors with no sign of them being removed. I hope I’m wrong but looks to me stoats will continue to be killed in these traps. And the same for red squirrels?
Typical of what man ( so called country men) , they persecuted Reds to near extinction by the 1930,s selling them a Smithfield market as a delicacy …. and in 1870 the landowners introduced the Greys into the U.K. …. and now they pump out propaganda blaming the Greys for the decline of the Reds…. no proof required just keep saying it is the fault of the Greys…. and then they get the Eton boys , to bring in an act to kill Greys ( they call it “Culling” as this is what posh folk call KILLING!) …. no wild animals should be killed!
Sorry but your comment is incredibly ill-informed regarding Grey vs Red Squirrels. Greys spread squirrel pox to which they are immune and the Reds are not. This is not just a problem in the UK but is now a problem in the whole of Europe, which is why there is widespread culling of Greys.
What is indisputable is that these devices are cruel and inhumane. They should use live traps so that non-target species can be released and target species can be humanely killed. Of course, the argument over what should be a target species is a strong and emotive one: the fluffy-bunny sentimentalists on the one hand and the hard-nosed pragmatic conservationists on the other (both of which exclude anyone associated with DGS). My personal view is that target species should be restricted to introductions / escapes.
Sentimentalists – what is sentimental about caring about the welfare (or heaven help us, the rights) of defenceless sentient beings.
Whether they are fluffy, fleshy, feathery or finny, for that matter.
However, I would give you a ‘like’ for agreeing that these devices are cruel and inhumane, Simon.
Greys are the main factor to blame for the decline of the reds, that’s not a matter of much scientific or conservation controversy. Especially in the past century. The means by which grey squirrels displace red ones through a combination of competition for food and squirrel pox virus is well established. Historic culling of red squirrels (or current accidental bycatch in traps like this) does not change that.
Reece – that’s true. Bycatch of Red Squirrels probably doesn’t help their recovery though. there are plenty of good examples where bycatch has been a problem – most of them marine admittedly. And letting all the Pine Martens survive would do the job too.
Well said! Another thing that the conservation community should take every opportunity to shout from the roof tops is the return of one native species aiding the conservation of other ones – the pine marten helping the red squirrel has got to be the prime example. By God gamekeepers hate this being brought up!!! When I mentioned this to one of them recently he said as soon as they’d eaten all the greys the martens would hammer the reds. Not once have I seen any of them give even the smallest cheer for the marten. One of the arguments against bringing back the beaver was that it would supposedly divert funds from conserving species still here, but struggling like the water vole. Beaver reintroduction was held back for years and now it’s abundantly clear so were the prospects for much of our wildlife including the water vole which even where mink are present has hung on with the greater habitat complexity beavers create – far better than the tiny strips of canal bank they had to live in. The same spurious arguments are being used against lynx reintroduction at a time when more and more woods are being eaten out by deer numbers heading towards two million while there’s not one single wild animal that can kill an adult of any of the six species we have.
Oh absolutely, it won’t be helping matters even if it isn’t the main threat to them. Same applies to a few other species sometimes caught as bycatch in these traps (including when “properly” restricted).
Reds where hunted to extinction in the highlands and where reintroduced from first England and then Scandinavia. The red squirrels in England started to die out after the introduction of the eastern grey squirrel by I think lord Bedford who also gifted them to friends around the country. It was later found that eastern greys carry a disease which they are immune to but is deadly to the reds. The virus is transmitted by parasites and once one red squirrel became infected it quickly passed it to other reds. Also the stress caused by greys stopped the red squirrels from breeding. The red squirrels sold at the market was thought to be as pets. Also it has come to light that a high population of eastern grey squirrels can have adverse effects on the UK’s biodiversity.
You don’t need to say more, Mark. The Scottish Gamekeepers Association have spoken on their webpage; “Our members, whose responsibility it is to control wildlife populations…”. So they are just doing their job. Wildife controlled, tick. Off to lunch. (see RPUK post today).
It’s literally JUST A RODENT WITH RED FUR, YOU MORONS! LOLOL!