Clause 8 - Tests for registration:
Hunting Bill
2:30 pm
Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire, Conservative)
I want to make it clear that the amendment proposed for Thursday will be as unacceptable to us as the group of amendments that have already been tabled by the hon. Member for Southampton, Test. It makes no difference at all from our point of view.
The Minister asked me three particular questions before we broke for lunch, and I shall answer them. First, he asked me whether I genuinely believe that hunts tend to catch old and vulnerable foxes. The answer is, of course, yes. A very high proportion of foxes killed by organised hunts are old or vulnerable. Unlike the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Rob Marris), we believe that hunts provide a useful service. He apparently believes that foxes should not be killed by hunts, and that it does not matter whether they are fit, young and keen or whether they are old and diseased.
Secondly, the Minister asked about the healthy fox population south of the river in Wandsworth. There is no hunting there, which he believes demonstrates that there can be a healthy population without there being hunting. I have looked into the matter, and he should know that the London borough of Wandsworth appointed an organisation called Wildlife Management Ltd. to look after the fox population in Wandsworth. Since 1 March 2002—about nine months—it has trapped and killed 2,717 foxes in the London borough of Wandsworth alone. There is a healthy population south of the river because Government-appointed organisations, which are operating entirely in accordance with the Minister's plans, have killed 2,717 foxes in Wandsworth.