28.08.08
The RSPCA is warning people about the dangers of traps and the precautions that need to be taken if setting a trap after a hedgehog was found seriously injured on Wednesday, 13 August.
The young male animal was found dragging a rat trap attached to his leg through a garden in Gables Lea, Sutton Bonington, Leicestershire. He had been caught in a T-Rex trap, which is designed to catch rats.
The hedgehog is now recovering at Helping Hands Hedgehogs Rescue Centre in Queniborough, but unfortunately the ordeal left him with four of his five toes missing on his front right foot. The trap cut off some of the toes and the remainder had to be amputated as they were so badly damaged.
Legal requirement to prevent injury to wildlife
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is a legal requirement for anyone setting a trap to take reasonable precautions to prevent injury to protected wildlife.
This means that a trap designed to catch rats should be placed undercover where it can trap only the intended species, and not be set out in the open as this one seems to have been.
The Society is opposed to the manufacture, sale and use of all snares, and opposed to any traps that cause suffering. It is also essential that where traps are used, they are set in accordance with the law to reduce the risk of death or injury to other wild or domestic animals.
Some people are oblivious to dangers of traps
RSPCA Animal Collection Officer (ACO) Fran Whitten said: "This hedgehog's injuries could have been much worse. Often people are harming or killing wildlife without meaning to and may not even realise that they are breaking the law.
"We are therefore urging anyone who is thinking of using traps to take care to ensure that the trap is covered and set in an appropriate place."
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 anyone found guilty of endangering a protected wild animal can face a £5,000 fine and/or six months in prison.
photo © RSPCA
