There was a warning posted on the GAGB Facebook site yesterday when a cacher came into close proximity with an animal trap.

Having found an illegal trap myself last week whilst surveying an area for a new series, I came to realise that the local Police were reluctant to act and, having done some research it is clear that it might be usueful for Geocachers to be able to identify the illegal traps/placement and have a few points of reference when reporting the matter to the authorities.

Animal traps are subject to legislation, the Police and the RSPCA, (or RSPB in the case of birds) are the appropriate points of contact. You may also consider contacting a local vet in the case of a trapped animal requiring urgent attention.

I would suggest that we are likely to walk past animal traps more often than we realise, and may well just regard the ones that we see as being a 'necessary evil' for land management, this isn't a drum banging campaign, just a post to raise awareness.

Here are some links to websites that I found interesting and useful when trying to convince a Police Officer that an offence had been committed :

http://www.onekind.org/resources/blo..._walkers_guideAlthough a blog article I found that the main post offers sound practical and reasoned advice.

http://www.rspca.org.uk/utilities/fa...gory/Wildlife/
The actual legislation from the RSPCA.

http://www.northyorkshire.police.uk/461A sound Police perspective, and the one which prompted my local Officer to follow up the report with an interview and caution the landowner.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/En...rappingsnaringScottish info and legislation.

http://www.nationalgamekeepers.org.u...ngTrapping.pdf The Game Keepers perspective.

http://www.antisnaring.org.uk/traps/types-of-trapsThere are examples of traps here, it is included for this purpose only.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/v_to_z/wildlife_offences/The Crown Prosecution lexicon of Wildlife Offences, very technical and wordy, but I will admit to finding sections of it very interesting, in a geeky kind of way.