Fox hunting law change will be “a disaster for wildlife”

Hunts in Scotland will be limited to using just two hounds to flush out foxes if new legislation is passed in Holyrood.

Fox hunting with dogs was effectively banned in Scotland in 2002 but an exemption for pest control allowed dogs to be used to draw foxes from cover so they could be shot.

Rural affairs minister

Mairi Gougeon told MSPS that it had become apparent that the law “to protect foxes from unnecessary hunting” was not “having the desired effect”.

She said: “It is clear to me that there remains considerable public concern about fox hunting in Scotland and doubts about the operability of the legislation as it currently stands.”

Alex Hogg, chairman of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, told Shooting Times: “Scotland has one of the highest fox densities in Europe. Reducing the ability to control foxes in forestry will be a disaster for wildlife and farm stock. We say, on one hand, we want to save the curlew, then we do this. It is another nail for important rural industries and rare ground-nesting wildlife that Scotland has a global responsibility to protect.”

Scotland has one of the highest fox densities in Europe