Justice for the Glenogil foxes
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The law failed the Glenogil foxes. But we won’t.
“One fox was dead already. Snared round its abdomen, who knows how long it had been held there before it finally died. As we took in this horrific scene I realised that just 15 metres or so along the track another fox was in a snare, but this one was still alive. The snare was slicing through her abdomen and whilst she was distressed and still struggling you could see she was giving up the fight for life. I called the Scottish SPCA, hoping that she could still be saved but her wounds were too severe and she had to be humanely put down.”
This account from our Field Officer is from 26 September 2014 when he visited Glenogil estate with some volunteers to gather evidence of legal snare use in support of our campaign to get snares banned. An investigation followed and the gamekeeper who set the snare was charged with not checking his snares every 24 hours and failing to keep records as the law requires.
Since then the trial has been scheduled and rescheduled and was finally meant to go to court on 9 May this year. Witnesses were called and the date was in the diary. A year and a half after the incident, but we still expected to see justice done. Then, out of the blue, the Crown dropped the case after considering all ‘admissible’ evidence. As yet, we don’t know exactly whether – or what - evidence has been deemed inadmissible. But when a case that had six witnesses, video and photo evidence, and a thorough Scottish SPCA investigation is dropped before it gets to court, we have to ask whether there can ever be justice for persecuted wildlife.
Criminal proceedings may no longer be possible in this case, but we have a big opportunity that would end the suffering caused by snares forever. A review of Scotland’s snaring regulations is scheduled for this year and OneKind is repeating its calls for an outright ban on these cruel, indiscriminate traps. We may have the strictest legislation in the UK but if it’s not enforced, it’s meaningless.
So don’t let the Glenogil foxes die in vain. Please sign this open letter, which calls for a complete ban on all snares in Scotland. We will submit it with everyone’s name behind it to the new Scottish Government immediately after the May elections. This will send a powerful message that we want urgent action to ban snares and prevent such cruelty from ever happening again.
Please take action now! Sign the open letter calling for the Scottish Government to make the Glenogil foxes the last to die in the grip of a snare.