Traditionally there has always been widespread killing of both types of mustelids by gamekeepers. ‘Vermin’ control, they call it. On the moors and open countryside, it is generally stoats, weasels preferring woods and hedgerows. But there is considerable overlap in their ranges. The traps used are spring traps, of which the best-known is the Fenn trap.
From 1st April 2020, as a result of the Agreement on International Humane Trapping, new rules have been introduced for certain mammals including stoats, but not weasels.
Fenn traps are now banned for stoats but remain legal for weasels. There are five new approved killing traps for stoats plus a ‘live’ one. On our moors, it seems the gamekeepers are opting for the DoC 150 spring trap, which certainly looks like it would give a more powerful kill. I think I read somewhere that the old Fenn traps did not necessarily kill instantly.
A favourite location to deploy is on a plank over a ditch or along the top of a dry-stone wall. The DoC 150 trap is set in the middle enclosed with wooden sides with an access hole in an attempt to limit access solely to the target species. The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (an oxymoron of a name if I ever saw one) recommend a minimum aperture of 51mm where stoats and weasels are the main targets. A galvanised metal mesh tunnel surrounds the whole contraption.
You will generally have to go off-piste to spot one of these traps, but if you do come across one and it’s the old Fenn type it needs reporting. It’s probably worth taking a photo anyway if you’re not sure and noting the location. The North York Moors Moorland Monitors has an excellent Facebook page and can assess the photograph.
Interestingly, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation suggest that these new legal stoat traps could be unscrupulously replaced by an illegal Fenn trap, or that Fenn traps could be set out on the moors to incriminate the ‘keepers. I find it absolutely unbelievable that anyone opposed to the killing of sentient wild animals would stoop to these tactics. Some mischievous gossip there I think.
So what is the difference between a stoat from a weasel?
Both are fast and ferocious, with short legs and sinuous bodies.
Stoats are bigger than weasels and their tails have a black tip whereas the weasel’s are much shorter and completely brown.
In winter, stoats may turn white or ermine, although be aware there are some stoats that do not show this genetic trait. Weasels have no winter coat.
And if can not remember these few distinctions you could always resort to the old saying that ‘a weasel is weasel-ey recognised and a stoat is stoat-ally different’.
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