Humaneness and Selectivity of Killing Neck Snares Used to Capture Canids in Canada: A Review

Although killing neck snares are used on traplines in Canada to capture gray wolves (Canis lupus), coyotes (C. latrans), and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), they are not subject to trap performance criteria set out in the Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards (AIHTS). This paper reviews scientific information related to the humaneness and selectivity of killing neck snares used to capture canids. All past studies demonstrated that manual and power killing neck snares were inadequate to consistently and quickly render canids unconscious. Furthermore, killing neck snares are non-selective, and impact seriously on the welfare of non-target animals. We recommend that the AIHTS be modified to allow only killing neck snares that kill quickly and consistently, and in the absence of such snares, to phase-out all killing snares for which efficient and more humane alternatives exist. 1