Despite being regarded as a pest in the United Kingdom, the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 prohibits certain methods of killing dormice. This is because the "Gliridae" family of rodents is protected internationally under the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, to which the United Kingdom is a signatory. Removing edible dormice from a property may only be carried out by a qualified pest controller licensed by Natural England using spring traps. The animals must then be humanely destroyed after capture.