Results 1-20 of 113 for hunting speaker:Michael Foster

Hunting Bill: Clause 1 — Hunting wild mammals with dogs (16 Nov 2004)

Mr Michael Foster: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman and I recognise the difficult position in which he finds himself. He is willing to allow hare coursing to be banned, but hare hunting potentially to continue. Both activities use dogs to kill hares. How can he justify a principled position if he allows hare coursing, but not hare hunting, to be banned?

Orders of the Day — Hunting Bill (15 Sep 2004)

Mr Michael Foster: .... The hon. Gentleman will remember that a ban on hare coursing was in the original Bill of a couple of years ago. That sent out a clear signal to everyone that, regardless of what happened to fox hunting, stag hunting and hare hunting, the Government had a clear intent that the activity of hare coursing would be banned. Due notice would have been given, which perhaps explains the hon....

Orders of the Day — Hunting Bill (15 Sep 2004)

Mr Michael Foster: ...of time before the Act commences, as laid down in the amendment. I do so because I believe that the House has a duty to help those whom we want to encourage to switch to alternatives such as drag hunting. We need to allow time for that process to happen. I would like to explain how I envisage that happening. To switch to drag hunting, hunts would have to register with the Draghounds and...

Orders of the Day — Hunting Bill (15 Sep 2004)

Mr Michael Foster: I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for her question. I believe that the Countryside Alliance and their advisers have misled the vast majority of people engaged in hunting to the extent that they did not believe that Parliament was serious about dealing with this issue and bringing it to a conclusion. I honestly believe that they did not think that this day would come. This day has come, so...

Orders of the Day — Hunting Bill (15 Sep 2004)

Mr Michael Foster: I am most grateful for that contribution—as ever, very short on knowledge about what I have done to carry this issue forward. I went out with the Worcestershire hunt to see what it did and I found it most instructive to see how a hunt was organised. I was often put in a position where I was at the front of the field and I could see the fox running, despite its natural reaction to flee...

Orders of the Day — Hunting Bill (15 Sep 2004)

Mr Michael Foster: Let me explain the relevance of that point. If there is a switch to drag hunting and if a hunt is organised in such a way that people can enjoy the pleasure of the ride—hunt supporters tell me that that is what they want—they can still have an enjoyable day in the countryside. Hunt supporters also often say, "We are never there at the kill to see the end of the fox, so why on...

Hunting Bill: New Clause 1 — Compensation (9 Jul 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: ...has a responsibility for tolerance, but that does not mean that we have to tolerate activities that are cruel, unnecessary and have no part in modern Britain. That has always been my objection to hunting with dogs. As my hon. Friend the Member for West Ham (Mr. Banks) said, this is not a class issue; it never has been. It crosses those boundaries because it is about cruelty and animal...

Public Bill Committee: Hunting (Re-committed) Bill: Clause 1 - Hunting wild mammals with dogs (3 Jul 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: Has my right hon. Friend the Minister estimated the cost of policing activities such as Boxing day hunts, at which there is typically a stand-off between pro and anti-hunt supporters? Police resources are required to keep those people apart.

Public Bill Committee: Hunting (Re-committed) Bill: New clause 8 - Compensation (3 Jul 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: Is my right hon. Friend the Minister aware that many people will still be employed in drag hunts to look after the dogs, kennels, horses and so on?

Public Bill Committee: Hunting (Re-committed) Bill: Schedule 1 - Exempt Hunting (3 Jul 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: ...I should have thought that that was the prime purpose behind the new clause. Schedule 1(7) also contains conditions about the land and the permission necessary for the person conducting the exempt hunting. Importantly, the seventh condition is that ''the wild mammal was not harmed for the purpose of enabling'' the hunting to take place. I suggest that that is quite a strict condition,...

Public Bill Committee: Hunting (Re-committed) Bill: Schedule 1 - Exempt Hunting (3 Jul 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: ...his next response to me is a little more temperate than the last. What is the difference between new clause 7 and paragraph 7(2) of schedule 1, which says that an exemption to the prohibition of hunting is that the ''hunter reasonably believes that the wild mammal is or may be injured''? The schedule makes it possible to use dogs to locate an injured animal. What is the difference...

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: New clause 11 - Use of dogs below ground (25 Feb 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: I would never accuse the Middle Way Group of being unprincipled. That is a wholly inaccurate assessment of my views. I know the group is principled; it is pro-hunt. It is as simple as that. In the Bill that I proposed in 1997, terrier work was specifically banned as an activity, although flushing out to guns for the Welsh gun packs in upland areas was exempt.

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: New clause 11 - Use of dogs below ground (25 Feb 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: ...behind the utility and cruelty tests in clause 8, when it had the opportunity to apply the test to mink and chose not to do so when it voted. It is all right to argue that we should put all these hunting activities to the two tests in clause 8. If Middle Way Group members are going to be principled when they suggest alternatives, they also should put the activities to the tests.

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: New clause 11 - Use of dogs below ground (25 Feb 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: The hon. Gentleman is wrong to say that I am unconcerned. The Bill is about hunting wild mammals with dogs and does not concern shooting. If it considered the shooting of foxes we would debate the matter. Of course, the high levels of wounding to which he has alluded concern me and DEFRA rightly provides guidance on the appropriate calibre of weapon to deal with foxes. Burns said that lamping...

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: New clause 11 - Use of dogs below ground (25 Feb 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: ...a dog underground to protect game birds, which will be shot later. One cannot justify killing orphaned cubs in that way because, by definition, they are not a threat to game birds. If they could hunt game birds, they would not be reliant upon their mothers. The hon. Gentleman's amendment has faults, but there is some merit in looking at it further.

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: New clause 11 - Use of dogs below ground (25 Feb 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: If the hon. Gentleman reads my Second Reading contribution he will see that cub hunting was one of my concerns, as was lowland hunting. New clause 12, which refers to hunting below an altitude of 500 m, is a signal that I believe that lowland hunting should be examined by Parliament either in Committee or in the Chamber. I decided that the Chamber is the place for that decision to be made at...

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: New clause 11 - Use of dogs below ground (25 Feb 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: Being a former member of the teaching profession does give one more acute hearing than most. Terrier work is conducted in association with traditional foxhunting. If a fox escapes a hunt into a hole of some sort, terrier men are sent to flush out, bolt, or dig out that fox and have it shot. There is also the sport—and I use the term loosely—of terrier work, where unofficial...

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: New clause 11 - Use of dogs below ground (25 Feb 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: ...involve the use of a dog below ground.'' The Government have made it clear that they are concerned about terriers going underground to flush out foxes to be shot or so that they can continue to be hunted. Let us assume that the fox is flushed out to be shot. The Government have said that they do not like that on animal welfare grounds. However, the Bill allows a terrier to go underground...

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: New clause 11 - Use of dogs below ground (25 Feb 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: ...6.52, Lord Burns made it clear that one of his concerns was the protracted nature of the process and the fact that the fox was prevented from escaping from the hole. The practices associated with hunting gave me concern from the moment I considered the issues. I went on a fox hunt and found that, to enable lowland hunting to continue, holes are stopped up to prevent the fox from escaping...

Public Bill Committee: Hunting Bill: Clause 7 - Hare Coursing (13 Feb 2003)

Mr Michael Foster: ...were such a joke. I remember the comments about being selective by taking out the weaker and sicker hares. I wrote that down, because it was a great joke. I also remember the argument that hare hunting should be subject to a tribunal, but the same Conservative Members said that we could not put the question of mink before the tribunal and that they should be hunted without being subject to...