A leg snare is comprised of a spring, a circle of 3/16″ (for black bears) or 1/4″ (for grizzly) aircraft cable, and a locking mechanism. It is designed to catch the bear by the leg.
Leg snares must be signed, alarmed and monitored frequently (at least every two hours) to prevent injury and stress to the bear or accidental snaring of cubs, people, pets or other animals.
Unfortunately, most injuries occur shortly after being caught. Snares must be properly set to reduce injury rates and should only be used by people with adequate training in their safe use. Leg snares should be used as a last resort to catch bears that could not be live-trapped.
Snare Injury. Photo Credit: OMNR, 2005. Due to the concern for injury, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources prohibits the use of snares to capture problem bears.
Advantages
- Can be used in some areas where live traps cannot be set
- Effective
- Inexpensive
Disadvantages
- Can cause severe physical injury to the bear if not properly set and monitored
- Must be monitored every couple of hours or less
- Not advisable for use in urban areas unless continuously monitored
- Difficult to capture family units
- May capture/injure non-target animals or people if not set, signed and monitored properly
- Has to be followed by immobilization i.e. jab-stick/dart which can be risky for handle
Sierra Club US 2012 Policy on Trapping Wildlife
Use of body-gripping devices* – including leghold traps, snares, and Conibear® traps – are indiscriminate to age, sex and species and typically result in injury, pain, suffering, and/or death of target and non-target animals. The Sierra Club considers body-gripping, restraining and killing traps and snares to be ecologically indiscriminate and unnecessarily inhumane and therefore opposes their use.
The Sierra Club promotes and supports humane, practical and effective methods of mitigating human-wildlife conflicts and actively discourages the use of inhumane and indiscriminate methods. Sierra Club recognizes the rights of indigenous peoples under federal laws and treaties granting rights of self-determination and rights to pursue subsistence taking of wildlife. *Body gripping device – includes, but is not limited to, any snare (neck, body, or leg), kill-type trap (such as the Conibear®), leghold trap (including steel-jaw, padded, offset), and any other device designed to grip a body or body part. This definition includes any device that may result in injury or death because of the mechanism of entrapment. Live cage and box traps, and common rat and mousetraps shall not be considered body-gripping devices. ~ Sierra Club Board of Directors, May 19, 2012
FAQs
Bear Attacks. Although the bear safety rhyme “If it's brown, lay down. If it's black, fight back. If it's white, goodnight” sounds like good advice, you have to know why a bear is attacking you before you can decide the best way to respond.
Do bears have high IQ? ›
When we think of intelligent animals, species like chimpanzees, dolphins and crows spring to mind, due to their charismatic behavior. There may, however, be another unexpected animal climbing the ranks of intelligent creatures—bears.
What are the different responses to bears? ›
If the bear is stationary, move away slowly and sideways; this allows you to keep an eye on the bear and avoid tripping. Moving sideways is also non-threatening to bears. Do NOT run, but if the bear follows, stop and hold your ground. Bears can run as fast as a racehorse both uphill and down.
Do bear traps actually work? ›
One of the most common myths is that beartraps are effective at trapping any animal that may pose a threat. This could not be further from the truth. In fact, beartraps are only effective on bears, and using them on other animals can be cruel and inhumane.
What is the answer to the bear puzzle? ›
The bear must be at the North Pole because all lines of longitude point towards that place so no matter how many yards the hunter moves horizontally when he faces North he will face the North Pole, where the bear is located. Puzzle solved. Easy peasy.
What is the rhyme to avoid bears? ›
When it comes to bear safety, there's this saying: Brown lay down, black fight back. And while this rhyme might be easy to remember in a stressful moment when you encounter a bear, sometimes brown bears don't appear to be brown and black bears don't appear to be black.
Which animal has zero IQ? ›
Any cnidarians outside the Cubozoa. They have no brains and thus no measurable IQ either. There are several possible answers to this question as different animals display varying levels of intelligence.
What animal has 25 IQ? ›
Chimpanzee
They are our closest living relatives and considered by most scientists to be the second most intelligent species on Earth, behind humans. Research on chimpanzees has estimated their IQ between 20 and 25, around the average for a human toddler.
Are bears smarter than cats? ›
"The more units you find in the brain, the more cognitively capable the animal is." Researchers posited that "dogs have roughly the same intelligence as raccoons and lions, while domestic cats have comparable intelligence to bears."
What should you yell at a bear? ›
Make yourself look bigger by raising your arms and jacket, and/or standing on a rock or stump. Yell “Hey bear” loudly. Get your bear spray out of the holster and into your hand. Remove the safety latch.
Grizzly and polar bears are the most dangerous, but Eurasian brown bears and American black bears have also been known to attack humans.
Do bears understand human language? ›
Bears do not understand English or French, but they do understand a language of dominance and submission. The wildlife manager can assert his dominance by posturing or faking the bear into believing the human is in control of the situation.
Can a bear trap break a human bone? ›
What would happen if an unfortunate human stepped onto a bear trap? Same thing that happens when a bear steps in one. You'd get trapped, you'd be in a lot of pain, and you'd have a very serious leg wound, possibly including broken bones.
How painful is a bear trap? ›
Bear traps are designed to immobilize and cause pain to the animal it traps. Unfortunately, if you get caught in one, the same will happen to you. You will experience extreme pain and your mobility will be limited.
Why are bear traps illegal? ›
Some animals, especially mothers desperate to return to their young, will even attempt to chew or twist off their trapped limbs. When they can't escape, their babies are left alone, unable to fend for themselves. Because of the cruelty inherent in the use of steel-jaw traps, they've been banned in many countries.
What is the bear safety quote? ›
An easy rhyme to remember is “If it's brown, lay down. If it's black, fight back!” Brown bears (grizzlies) will likely leave you alone if it thinks you are dead.
What is the bear danger phrase? ›
There's a helpful, catchy saying worth memorizing: "If it's black, fight back. If it's brown, lie down." (The last part of that saying is not as commonly known: "If it's white, say goodnight" − which is to say, if you have some sort of aggressive encounter with a polar bear, you're probably a goner.)
What is the rhyme for going on a bear hunt? ›
We're going on a bear hunt, we're going on a bear hunt. We're going to catch a big one, we're going to catch a big one. I'm not scared, I'm not scared. What a beautiful day, what a beautiful day.
