Partnership Against Cruel Traps and Snares

About PACTS

The Partnership Against Cruel Traps and Snares is a recently established global network dedicated to reducing the capture, suffering, and death of wildlife in inhumane traps and snares. Our goal is to reduce the brutal consequences of these devices by sharing our experiences, ideas, and data; targeting the problems; and working jointly on solutions to protect wildlife—whether target or nontarget—from these needless and horrific devices.

As a voluntary partnership, there are no formal commitments, no financial obligations, and no officers. It functions exclusively on good will, a sense of benevolence toward wild animals, and a determination to protect them from cruel traps and snares such as gin (steel-jaw leghold) traps and strangling snares. PACTS does, however, depend upon the active participation of knowledgeable, dedicated, and compassionate persons, governmental representatives, and nongovernmental organizations.

Most importantly, PACTS encourages partners to engage in dialogue, providing information, practical skills, resources, and best practices that can be useful to other partners or to the efforts of the group as a whole to find, seize, and combat the use of these archaic devices. The problem of cruel traps and snares is global in scope. It needs a global response. PACTS is intent upon accomplishing this.

Bald eagle in a steel-jaw leghold trap. Photo by Sue Boardman.

Impala in a neck snare. Photo by Lilongwe Wildlife Trust.

Become a Partner

We enthusiastically welcome representatives from wildlife agencies around the globe who share our concern over brutal traps and snares. We recognize the value of experience: in finding traps and snares set by poachers before animals become victims, and in dealing with trapped or snared animals who require veterinary care or simply a release from their suffering.

Nongovernmental organizations, individuals, veterinarians, and researchers who have participated in efforts to address the use of inhumane traps and snares are welcome, too. This includes entities or persons engaged in de-snaring sweeps, in community relations to discourage the uses of these devices, or in research aimed at documenting the cruelty, ecological damage, or nonselective nature of these devices. We seek partners who are willing to share information that can be useful to others and to the partnership’s broader efforts to reduce use of traps and snares.

Partners will be added to an electronic mailing list. Persons, agencies, and organizations on the list will be notified automatically by email whenever a new item is posted on the PACTS website.

Share Information with Colleagues Around the World

Following are some of the topics PACTS partners will seek to address:

Technologies for the detection and removal of cruel traps and snares (such as portable metal detectors or trip-wire detection devices)
Policies and procedures for locating and removing cruel traps and snares from wildlife habitats (such as techniques for prioritizing areas for de-snaring sweeps or for recognizing key indicators that a particular habitat is likely to contain concealed traps and snares
“Best practices” that could aid law enforcement personnel in endeavors such as intelligence gathering or investigations into the manufacture, sale, or transport of illegal trapping devices
Applicable laws—their effectiveness and applicability as a model for others
Trapping/snaring policies of government agencies that may be useful to other partners (such as protocols on the care of live animals caught in traps or snares or policies on the disposal of confiscated traps and snares)
Scientific studies documenting the cruelty caused by these devices and/or assessing how their use has impacted wildlife populations.
Other innovations, practices, and policies that may further the goals of PACTS

Gin (steel-jaw leghold) traps. Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals.

Wire snare. Photo by Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals.

Technology to Detect Traps and Snares

Technology has made important contributions to the modern world but has not been very conspicuous in the campaigns to suppress the use of cruel traps and snares. PACTS seeks to identify promising technologies for the detection of concealed traps and snares, and then work with partners to conduct field tests to learn if these technologies have cost-effective applications.

PACTS will seek to secure needed resources to make successful, practical technologies available to teams engaged in trap- and snare-removal operations. In addition, we will share various technical reports that may be of interest to persons and organizations engaged in efforts to rid wildlife habitats of inhumane traps and snares.

Promising technologies include the following:

Beam Of Light Technologies (BOLT) produces “Z-Bolt” portable green, red, and infrared lasers that operate much like a common flashlight. When swept across an area, the lasers cause metal wires to fluoresce, thus making them much easier to see. These devices are used by the military to identify trip-wires that trigger concealed explosives. As there is little difference between a trip-wire and a snare, field research may determine whether Z-Bolt or similar lasers could aid de-snaring operations in wildlife habitats.
The UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) is working to help clear millions of landmines from 60 countries around the world. Some of their apparatus uses sophisticated technologies such as “Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT),” which deciphers the electrical conductivity of the ground. Snare wires usually have a very high conductivity and perhaps might be discoverable using the same technology that presently searches for concealed landmines.
MineKafon, a Dutch organization, is developing a small drone that carries an electromagnetic induction detection device—a “flying metal detector”—that, if flown close to the earth, could also be a cost-effective method of locating concealed traps and snares.

Tiger in a gin (steel-jaw leghold) trap. Photo by Bantu Dontre.

News and Additional Information on Traps and Snares

Following are various reports, articles, and other information that may be of interest to others. Please share links to add to this list. These may include pieces on specific efforts to address cruel traps and snares, reports of arrests or court decisions concerning someone charged with trap/snare related offenses, PACTS partner organizations and agencies that are launching new initiatives, and other trap/snare-related information.

AWI Articles:

Laws to Prohibit or Severely Limit Use of Cruel Traps and Snares

Laws prohibiting cruel traps and snares vary from country to country, and within particular countries.

Which laws are more effective and why? Legislative innovations that have produced useful reforms in one jurisdiction might be adapted to improve the laws of other jurisdictions. Was a particular law effective because of a particular type of community relations program or the intensity of enforcement effort? Which techniques have proven effective in encouraging persons to respect the law and in deterring persons from setting cruel traps and snares in wildlife habitats?

The following links contain information on such laws:

Within PACTS we hope to gather more information on existing laws, assess them, and, if relevant, make them available to our partners and on the website.

Mountain Lion in a neck snare.