Another one of her dogs, two year-old Willoughby, had got one caught around his paw but had managed to break free and come back to her.

She says her Springer's snare was on the pathway, pegged into the ground with a seven inch stake.

In her posting on Facebook she said: "If she was out of sight we would probably still be there looking for her. She was only stuck for a couple of seconds till I got to her, she was scared and pulling away, it wouldn't have taken long to start cutting in.

"Their instant reaction is to pull away, if it’s round their neck, they just keep pulling and pulling at it."

Serena said she went back on Sunday with a metal detector to see if she could find any more of the snares, set to trap rabbits, but couldn’t find any. She is meeting with the Centenier this week to see whether he can put a sign on the bins to warn other dog walkers.

Her posting on Facebook has since been shared over 600 times with dog lovers both shocked and disgusted that someone has been laying the snares.

Vet Adele Trott knows the damage these illegal traps can do to animals and is urging people who come across them to report them.

She said: “Not only can snares do serious damage to the trapped body part by cutting into the skin, interrupting blood supply and cause  tissue necrosis but also potentially trap small dogs.

“A dog like for example a Jack Russell Terrier trapped on the sand dunes would be difficult to find, especially in the evenings. Being left scared and frightened in a trap overnight would cause a great deal of suffering. If trapped in the day time it would cause the frightened animal to dehydrate.

“This is in addition to the sometimes severe injuries these wire snares cause. These traps were made illegal due to the unnecessary suffering they cause to animals!

“Anyone who sees traps being set or finds them should report it so they can be removed immediately. Increasing awareness will hopefully help decrease the use of them.”

The Centenier of St Ouen Clive Murphy said this is the second case in the last week of dogs getting caught in snares that has been reported to him.

He said: "In both cases, luckily the snare has come away. They could be everywhere, we just don't know. 

"It's going to be very difficult to catch who's doing it, unfortunately when it comes to the crunch a lot of people won't give a statement. We need to catch someone setting the snares. It's a massive area down there, when you start looking.

"There are hundreds of rabbits down there and maybe they do need culling but the culling has to be done humanely."

He said if they do manage to catch the perpetrators, they'll face prosecution for setting the illegal snares and for being illegally on Parks and Gardens land.