EVERY day in Wales, up to 1,000 animals are trapped, mutilated or suffer a drawn-out, painful death as they are caught in game-keepers’ snares.

Your readers can help stop this cruelty.

It’s hard to believe that snares are still legal in the UK – they’re outlawed in most of Europe. But shockingly, they are widespread here, particularly on and near shooting estates and game bird breeding farms.

The snares are indiscriminate, with only one-third of the animals caught being the actual target (usually foxes, which sometimes catch pheasants and partridges).

Research shows that the other two-thirds of animals caught are just ‘by-catch’. Deer, badgers, hares and even otters and family pets have been found trapped, mutilated or killed in these nooses too.

Only recently, the national press reported another beloved family pet had suffered horrific injuries from being caught in one of these lethal nooses in Wales.

We believe it’s time Wales led the rest of the UK with a complete ban on snares.

Your readers can help end this horrific cruelty by signing the petition calling for these cruel wire traps to be outlawed.

The petition can be found here assembly.wales/en/gethome/e-petitions/Pages/petitiondetail.aspx?PetitionID=1027, on the National Assembly for Wales’s website.

Rhiannon Evans

League Against Cruel Sports Wales