Schedule 1 - Exempt Hunting
Hunting Bill
2:30 pm
Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire, Conservative)
The Minister has not attempted to answer the debate on this point. He said a moment ago that the evidence is clear for all to see and we can look at it if we want to. When I asked him what it was, he would not even answer the question. Apparently he does not know what the evidence was.
The Minister says that he applied the tests of cruelty and utility to ratting and rabbiting and it became obvious to him that they must be allowed. Equally, he says that there is incontrovertible evidence that stag
hunting and deer coursing should be banned. However, he consistently refuses to tell us how he came to that conclusion. There is no evidence that ratting and rabbiting have more utility or less cruelty than, for example, hunting stoats and weasels with dogs, as my right hon. Friend keeps reminding us. Equally, there is no evidence that ratting and rabbiting have greater cruelty and less utility than fox hunting. The Minister gave one small example. His justification for ratting was that it is easy to see that the dogs are so much larger than their quarry. That applies to foxhunting. Foxhounds are considerably larger than the fox, especially if 20 or 30 couple are involved in the hunt. The same applies to weasels, stoats and the rest of them. There is no justification for singling out rats and rabbits.
The Minister also said that rats are a health risk. That also applies to foxes. There is a real risk, certainly to animal health and even, in extreme cases, to human health, from the large number of foxes around. If they are a hazard to health, surely we should allow dogs to chase and kill them.