Clause 27 - Automatic conditions of individual registration
Hunting Bill
4:00 pm
Mr Peter Luff (Mid Worcestershire, Conservative)
My hon. Friend has already given some compelling statistics on this. The requirement for the use of two dogs is laughable. The phrase that keeps occurring in briefings that I have received from different organisations is ''needle in a haystack''. I do not regard the amendment as at all helpful. It is a wrecking amendment. I do not think that the hon. Member for Ynys Môn (Albert Owen) is in his place at the moment. He said on Second Reading that, in his
constituency, two dogs were routinely used. A long letter that he has received from the master of the Ynys Môn hunt makes matters perfectly clear. It states:
''We always use between ten and fifteen foxhounds to search for and hunt foxes from cover, accompanied by a number of people using shotguns to kill the foxes. In a normal season between 60 and 70 per cent. of foxes culled would be killed by the shooters, the balance being killed by the hounds either before or after shooting. A significant proportion (30 per cent.) are culled by use of terriers underground.''
He continues:
''Farmers in your constituency have over generations tried a number of different methods for the control of foxes. None are perfect but the combination is the closest system we have to satisfactory and generally keeps the population managed at a level that your agricultural constituents can cope with. I think it is also prudent to mention that a Fox Control Society has existed on Ynys Môn since 1974 due to the need to control the vulpine population. In addition, there are several hundred individual operators who use terriers and lurchers throughout the winter months to meet the demand of control.''