Clause 1 - Hunting wild mammals with dogs
Hunting Bill
9:45 am
Mr Peter Luff (Mid Worcestershire, Conservative)
I agree with my hon. Friend. He has made his own point.
I want to emphasise the point in new schedule 2 that
''The digging out of wild mammals is only permitted for the purposes of wildlife management and with the express permission of the landowner''
and so on. I particularly welcome that because, as I have said, not all those in the hunting fraternity enjoy the digging out of a fox. If hunting is to be a pest control and wildlife-management process, it may be necessary to dig out a fox. The Middle Way Group will go a little further and enshrine in statute some of the matters that are already covered in codes of conduct. There is scope for including a reference to the codes of conduct by the recognised bodies within the new schedule. Nevertheless, it represents a significant improvement on what the Bill offers in terms of animal welfare and human freedom. The new schedule would
strike that balance. The Bill, even with the amendments made in Committee, cannot strike that balance. If Labour Members are genuinely committed to animal welfare, as I know they are, and if they are genuinely committed to human freedom, as I believe they are, they should consider new schedule 2 sympathetically. I invite them to do so.