Schedule 1 - Exempt Hunting
Hunting Bill
8:55 am
Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire, Conservative)
I am keen to get into the meat of what the Government report says, if that is all right with my hon. Friend. It says:
''The trials carried out in the Western Isles showed that dogs are very reliable locators of scent. And furthermore because scent is generally accepted as a more accurate indicator than faeces for identifying the active presence of a mink rather than its past presence, it must be assumed that their use to locate mink would substantially enhance the current trapping programme in the Western Isles.''
That is from a Government report. It continues:
''it must be assumed that their use to locate mink would substantially enhance the current trapping programme in the Western Isles.''
It also states:
''The trials demonstrated that dogs would be able to cover ground significantly faster while actively scenting''—
while they are scenting they move at speeds of 3 mph to 6 mph—
''than a man looking for faeces by eyesight (1–3 mph) in the terrain found in the Western Isles.''
That is from a Government report. I hope that the Minister will cite it in his reply. It goes on to say:
''Furthermore, their efficiency would increase proportionately to the numbers used together should they be encouraged to spread out in parallel while covering the ground.''
In other words, a number of dogs would find mink more efficiently. The report says:
''The trials show that dogs can be trained to be 'scent-specific' (e.g. ignore otter and feral ferret scent) and are capable of identifying the presence of mink from two to three day old scent or older . . . As in the case at Loch Leosaid at''—
Here my Gaelic fails me.