Clause 27 - Automatic conditions of individual registration
Hunting Bill
3:15 pm
Mr Colin Pickthall (West Lancashire, Labour)
The last thing on my mind is wrecking the entire Bill. I am anxious to retain some central points of it, and of course I realise what is in schedule 1.
The amendments also include the requirements that the dogs used are kept under proper control, which seems axiomatic to me, and that
''no more than two dogs are used''.
Perhaps most importantly, amendments Nos. 222 and 224 both say that
''no dog is to be used below ground'',
which would prevent what I think is one of the worst aspects of pursuing wild mammals with dogs; the use of terriers in digging out. The use of terriers in the digging out of badgers is banned in law for well accepted reasons that we all understand and which most people support, although it is not unknown in my constituency for badger diggers, who still exist, to use the excuse that they were digging for foxes.
The Burns report was clear in expressing a strong view about the process of digging out. I do not want to go into that at great length now, because I suspect that we might come back to the topic in discussion of new clause 11, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester. In paragraph 9.20, the Burns report says:
''In the absence of a ban, serious consideration could be given as to whether this practice should be allowed to continue and, if so, under what conditions.''
In paragraph 6.52, Burns concluded that
''the activity of digging out and shooting a fox involves a serious compromise of its welfare''—
the famous phrase—
''bearing in mind the protracted nature of the process and the fact that the fox is prevented from escaping.''
The Burns committee examined two post mortems of foxes killed by terriers underground in which trauma before death was reported. It does not take much imagination to realise what goes on in a small hole under the ground when two fairly strong animals with good teeth meet face to face. It not only damages the fox and can be very protracted; it often damages the terrier.