Snares catching cats!

shaun_mac

My neighbour has had 2 cats caught in snares in the past few days.
The first one wasn't too bad, it was caught around the cats head/shoulder and she was able to cut it off.
The second time the cat was caught in 2 snares around his abdomen, they were so tight the cat had to be sedated at the vets to cut them loose.

Check the pictures below, I've no doubt these are snares.
Has anyone ever come across something like this?
We live in Phibsborough near the canal and the cats do walk around our small block of the neighbourhood, mainly sticking to the back yards.

I've heard rumours that people are setting snares at the canal to catch ducks, has anyone heard of this?

She's contacted the Guards, ISPCA etc and they don't think there is much they can do.

I'd appreciate some advice. The way I see it either someone is illegally snaring animals near the canal or there is some nutter snaring cats in his back yard.
It looks like all these snares were cut loose ie. the cats didn't break the snare free, someone set the cat loose with the snares caught around them.

The cats are doing ok although she is petrified about letting them out again.

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IrishHomer

The snares you have photos of appear to be illegal snares as they don't appear to have a "stop" mechanism on them to prevent over tightening of the snare.

What part of country are you in? What type of are we're they in? Rural, urban?

Riesen_Meal

Jesus, my friend has a lot of cats and lives around that neck of the woods, gonna have to give her the heads up....



Thanks OP

kildare.17hmr

They look like they are made with electrical wire?? Agree with homer They defo look illegal. Here are the regulations for snares and traps. Snaring cats would not be illegal if done correctly but that does not appear to be done right from the photos


Trapping Regulations
Might be no harm to have this up here just so lads know what is legally required for snaring/trapping

1.These Regulations may be cited as the Wildlife Act 1976 (Approved Traps, Snares and Nets) Regulations 2003.

2. In these Regulations -
“Act of 1976” means the Wildlife Act 1976 (No. 39 of 1976);
“Act of 2000” means the Wildlife Act 2000 (No. 38 of 2000);
“Minister” means the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

3. The following traps, snares and nets are declared to be approved of for the purposes of section 34 of the Act of 1976, as amended by section 42 of the Act of 2000:

(a)(i) a cage or net trap designed to capture alive wild birds or wild animals,
and
(ii) a spring trap which is not a gin trap and which is designed to secure either-
(I) the immediate death, or
(II) the immediate unconsciousness and subsequent death without intervening consciousness,of wild birds or wild animals which it is designed to trap,

(b) a stop snare with a minimum length from noose to stop of 33 cm, in case it is intended to snare foxes,
and
16.5 cm, in case it is intended to snare rabbits, and which complies with the following conditions:
(i) it incorporates a swivel to facilitate twisting,
(ii) it is designed so that when it is used it will be securely tied to a fixed object, and
(iii) it is designed so that, for the purpose of avoiding catching large animals (for example deer, cattle or horses) by the leg when it is used, a jump bar, that is to say, a cross-bar at least 60 cm above the ground and supported by a pair of forked sticks not less than 60 cm apart, may also be used,

(c) a net designed to capture wild birds or wild animals,

(d) a stopped body restraint which complies with the following conditions:

(i) it is made of multi-strand steel wire 3 mm in width,

(ii) it incorporates a swivel to facilitate twisting,

(iii) it is of a minimum length of 80 cm and intended to trap badgers in accordance with a licence granted for that purpose to the Department of Agriculture and Food under section 23(6) of the Act of 1976 as amended by section 31(b) of the Act of 2000,

(iv) a metal runner is incorporated at one end of it which shall be 15mm by 3mm with 2 holes 4mm in diameter, a stop, a swivel and a “D” shackle; a ferrule is to act as the stop and shall be placed 32.5 cm from the end of the restraint to prevent strangulation of a limb or damage to other animals,

(v) it is designed so that when it is used it will be securely tied to a fixed object.

4. Any trap, snare or net, other than a trap, snare or net specified in Regulation 3 of these Regulations, is declared to be a trap, snare or net to which section 34(6) of the Act of 1976, as amended by section 42(f) of the Act of 2000, applies.


5. The Wildlife Act 1976 (Approved Traps, Snares and Nets) Regulations 1977 ( S.I. No. 307 of 1977 ) are revoked.

Pumpkinseeds

I'm glad that the cats are ok, there's some seriously f*****g screwed up individuals around these days. It takes a sick mind to do that to any animal.

shaun_mac

We're in north inner city Dublin

kildare.17hmr

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I'm glad that the cats are ok, there's some seriously f*****g screwed up individuals around these days. It takes a sick mind to do that to any animal.

Snaring is perfectly legal and if done right its himane, nothing sick about it.

mathepac

shaun_mac wrote: »

... She's contacted the Guards, ISPCA etc and they don't think there is much they can do. ...

What do they mean by that?

based on the post by @kildare.17hmr a legal framework exists for them to mount an investigation , confiscate or destroy any illegal snares found and interview people to gather information.

I suggest writing to the local superintendent enclosing the photographs and asking for a detailed written response.

Pumpkinseeds

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Snaring is perfectly legal and if done right its himane, nothing sick about it.

I'm not going to dignify your comment with a response

bex1979

My mums cat got caught in what looks like an illegal snare yesterday! Somebody set it up near her house! The cat was nearly killed, only for she heard him crying, he would have died in it. It was nasty piece of metal wire set up in a fence, designed to choke an animal to death. It makes me sick that someone would do this, we are definately taking this further, surely there has to be a law against something like this!

mathepac

bex1979 wrote: »

... surely there has to be a law against something like this!

rewind the thread a bit and all the legal detail necessary is posted.

Lollers

The poster said it looked like an illegal snare.

kildare.17hmr

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Snaring is perfectly legal and if done right its himane, nothing sick about it.

I'm not going to dignify your comment with a response

Because im right?

Snaring when done properly does not harm an animal, it simply holds the animan there until who ever is doung the snaring returns

aujopimur

Definitely illegal, it's made from telecom hardrawn cable.

dodderangler

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I'm glad that the cats are ok, there's some seriously f*****g screwed up individuals around these days. It takes a sick mind to do that to any animal.

Snaring is perfectly legal and if done right its himane, nothing sick about it.

Preaching to the choir man
This is animals and pet issues so us hunters aren't welcome in what we think is humane or not

But to add to that yes snares are perfectly legal and was the best way for people who years ago couldn't afford guns and were poor and had to trap rabbits to eat and feed the families
Unfortunately this is an illegal snare and it looks like either electric wire or wire trace( fishing)

Atb

DBB

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Because im right?

Snaring when done properly does not harm an animal, it simply holds the animan there until who ever is doung the snaring returns

dodderangler wrote: »

But to add to that yes snares are perfectly legal and was the best way for people who years ago couldn't afford guns and were poor and had to trap rabbits to eat and feed the families
Unfortunately this is an illegal snare and it looks like either electric wire or wire trace( fishing)

Can I ask both of you hunters, when it comes to assessing the level of cruelty of a hunting method, obviously physical cruelty is an easy enough one to measure. But how do you measure the mental stress/harm caused to an animal captured in a snare? I'd have thought that the mental anguish, and consequent cruelty, caused even by legal snares is beyond defence.
Hunters often justify their pastime by saying that with the gun, the kill is quick, and therefore merciful. But with a snare, the kill is not quick. The animal could be sitting there, trapped and terrified, in a legal snare, for some hours before it is finally put out of its misery.
So, I'm wondering how this is reconciled by those who say that snaring causes no harm?
This is a genuine question, I really am genuinely interested to know how snaring can be explained away as an unharmful method of capture?

Sappa

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I'm glad that the cats are ok, there's some seriously f*****g screwed up individuals around these days. It takes a sick mind to do that to any animal.

Snaring is perfectly legal and if done right its himane, nothing sick about it.

We all know you are a regular on the hunting threads and pro animal slaughter.
Snares are horrific for the animal and archaic.

Cherry Blossom

Just to remind ALL posters on this thread that discussion of hunting methods / morality of same is not permitted in this forum. Unless people have actual advice on the OP's specific question don't bother posting in this thread.

OP - personally my advice would be to ask your neighbour to please take responsibility for their own pets and keep them securely confined to their own property.

Sappa

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

Just to remind ALL posters on this thread that discussion of hunting methods / morality of same is not permitted in this forum. Unless people have actual advice on the OP's specific question don't bother posting in this thread.

OP - personally my advice would be to ask your neighbour to please take responsibility for their own pets and keep them securely confined to their own property.

Ahh sure that's great help.

iguana

Sappa wrote: »

Ahh sure that's great help.

Yes it is actually. The best advice that can be given in the circumstances. The OP's neighbour knows that someone is laying traps that have the potential to hurt her animals, so no matter what else she does about it, the very first and most important thing she can do is keep them where she can be sure of their safety. It's common sense.

The fact of the matter is that if you let your animals roam alone the odds of them getting hurt are much higher than if you only allow them supervised/enclosed exercise. There is a reason that the average lifespan of roaming cats is only 20-25% of their expected lifespan.

kildare.17hmr

DBB wrote: »

Can I ask both of you hunters, when it comes to assessing the level of cruelty of a hunting method, obviously physical cruelty is an easy enough one to measure. But how do you measure the mental stress/harm caused to an animal captured in a snare? I'd have thought that the mental anguish, and consequent cruelty, caused even by legal snares is beyond defence.
Hunters often justify their pastime by saying that with the gun, the kill is quick, and therefore merciful. But with a snare, the kill is not quick. The animal could be sitting there, trapped and terrified, in a legal snare, for some hours before it is finally put out of its misery.
So, I'm wondering how this is reconciled by those who say that snaring causes no harm?
This is a genuine question, I really am genuinely interested to know how snaring can be explained away as an unharmful method of capture?

they are designed to restrain an animal, not hurt it or kill it. ask any man who snares foxes and he will tell you 9 times out of 10 you return to a sleeping fox curled up because he has nowhere to go. I myself have seen this and from the few marks on the ground around the snare area the fox did not put up much of a fight to get free so IMO there was very little if any stress in that situation.

In the past before regulations snares had the potential to do alot of harm and could catch an animal by the leg and keep getting tighter as the animal tried to free itself causing really bad injuries, often these could be deer or even farm animals like cows and sheep. the guidlines have eliminated this and made it a legal requirement to have a "stop" to stop a leg getting caught and also you need to put a kind of barrier around the area to which restricts access to the target species. obviously this still goes on as we see in the OP but the person who set them snares is NOT a hunter and should be punished. No genuine hunter would use anything like that

Sappa wrote: »

We all know you are a regular on the hunting threads and pro animal slaughter.
Snares are horrific for the animal and archaic.

Eat meat much? your also "pro animal slaughter" if you do :rolleyes: off your high horse. The snares in the OP are defo illegal and they could be horrific because they have no stop or swivel and are the wrong kind of wire.

this should be reported to the authorities again and if they are still failing to act show them the legislation which i posted on page one and make a formal complaint. I would also contact the local wildlife ranger as they would be more up to speed with this kind of stuff

shaun_mac

Thanks for advice guys, especially Kildare.17hmr for posting the legislation. I printed it out and my neighbour took it to the Gardai again. This time there were very helpfull and offered to go door to door to try and get some information.
I'd rather this discussion doesn't turn into a pro or anti hunting or snaring argument. Simple facts are someone is breaking the law and could potentially kill someones pet. I don't think we can tolerate this in inner city neighbourhoods where we know our neighbours and accept their pets.

I'll keep you posted.

Mo60

iguana wrote: »

Yes it is actually. The best advice that can be given in the circumstances. The OP's neighbour knows that someone is laying traps that have the potential to hurt her animals, so no matter what else she does about it, the very first and most important thing she can do is keep them where she can be sure of their safety. It's common sense.

The fact of the matter is that if you let your animals roam alone the odds of them getting hurt are much higher than if you only allow them supervised/enclosed exercise. There is a reason that the average lifespan of roaming cats is only 20-25% of their expected lifespan.

Without getting into the cat roaming debate surely the fact that someone is using illegal snares should be addressed.

kildare.17hmr

shaun_mac wrote: »

Thanks for advice guys, especially Kildare.17hmr for posting the legislation. I printed it out and my neighbour took it to the Gardai again. This time there were very helpfull and offered to go door to door to try and get some information.
I'd rather this discussion doesn't turn into a pro or anti hunting or snaring argument. Simple facts are someone is breaking the law and could potentially kill someones pet. I don't think we can tolerate this in inner city neighbourhoods where we know our neighbours and accept their pets.

I'll keep you posted.

hope it helps and they find whoever is responsible. it would be worth checking the area for more, look in bushes where its obvious animals cross through and along walls where you would also expect to find runs.

My gut feeling on this would be kids/teenagers are the ones setting them

dodderangler

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

[

hope it helps and they find whoever is responsible. it would be worth checking the area for more, look in bushes where its obvious animals cross through and along walls where you would also expect to find runs.

My gut feeling on this would be kids/teenagers are the ones setting them[/Quote]
Not necessarily man
Could be oul lads doing it the way they done it in the old days ( any piece of wire done the job)
Best way to find them Is to follow trails as in old rabbit trails or fox trails and in entrance of bushes were the trail leads is usually where you will find a snare or two

Vel

They were talking about this subject on the FM104 Phone Show last night after a lady from Baldoyle emailed in to say that her neighbour was poisoning neighbourhood cats who came into his garden.

As the discussion went on I was quite shocked to hear that people killing or trying to kill cats who come into their gardens seems to be not the kind of isolated incident I thought it was likely to be.

One guy from Tallaght was on for most of the discussion. He keeps racing pigeons and as such wouldn't tolerate any cat in his garden. He mainly poisons them, has shot them with a pellet gun, has used traps/snares and said that when he finds them in the snare still alive he 'bashes their heads in'. He regularly drowns litters of kittens that he finds. He also has barbed wire on his walls to injure them. I certainly got the impression that he was telling the truth. He said it was mainly stray cats but he did poison his neighbour's cat over which there was war. Another guy came on to say that he hadn't yet managed to kill any cats that have come into his garden but that there are a few limping around the area that he has injured. There were lots of texts and calls of support for these men.

I do understand that there is a huge problem with feral cats in this country and that they can ruin a garden with their toileting etc. and there is an ongoing debate about whether it is right for people to let their pet cats roam, but surely people killing these cats using such cruel methods should not be tolerated?

kildare.17hmr

Vel wrote: »

surely people killing these cats using such cruel methods should not be tolerated?

No definatly not. Poisoning is completely ilegal now except for rodents. Shooting them with a pellet gun boils my blood and i actually tore a fella a new one recently in a gun shop when he told me he bought a pellet gun for shooting rabbits :mad: setting ilegal snares like in the pictures and having no proper means to dispatch your quarry is also a big no no. This could be put in the hunting section and would be met with the same reaction of disgust from the regulars over there. The people mentioned are not hunters, they are ass holes but unfortunatly alot of the time we get bunched in together when these matters come up. Alot of people may not agree with it but hunters do follow a code and never want to see suffering, they are also one of the most law abiding and scrutanised groups in the country.


With regards to the rest if the story you mentioned, i hope fm104 reported them callers and passed their details onto the guards

Pumpkinseeds

I agree that the radio station should pass on that information to the relevant authorities.

When I hear people revel in describing their sickening acts of cruelty to animals it makes me so angry as to despair of humanity. It makes me want to take a shovel to them and bury them with it afterwards. It is only the fantastic and selfless work being done for Feral and stray cats, by voluntary groups all over the country that stops me losing my faith in humanity.

If people have unwanted stray or feral cats in their neighbourhood they can google animal rescues in their area and they will come out and help the animal. Killing or maiming an animals because it annoys you is psychotic behaviour. I'm a vegetarian before anyone brings up the meat argument.

bex1979

mathepac wrote: »

rewind the thread a bit and all the legal detail necessary is posted.

Gee thanks, I never noticed. Excuse me for replying.

mathepac

:rolleyes:

Cherry Blossom

This isn't a kids playground, I think we're done here.

Locked.