Sturgeon attacking rural life with law limiting hunt dogs, say Scottish farmers
NICOLA STURGEON has been accused of “an unnecessary and unjustified attack on rural Scotland” ahead of a Bill clamping down on foxhunting.
The Scottish Countryside Alliance said it was “bizarre” that the Snp-green coalition was proposing legislation “in direct contradiction” of an independent review conducted by Lord Bonomy.
With the Bill expected to be published tomorrow, Jake Swindells, the organisation’s director, said proposals for a licensing system if hunts want to use more than two dogs were a “direct attack” on farmers’ rights.
His intervention was echoed by Ian Duncan Millar, a sheep farmer who has lost livestock to foxes, who warned that “my livelihood and peace of mind will both be adversely affected if we lose the ability to control foxes with a reasonably sized group of trained dogs”.
Hunts in Scotland currently allow an unlimited number of dogs to flush out but not kill foxes. However, there have been allegations that the law has been broken because guns have not been visibly present. An official review by Lord Bonomy rejected placing a restriction on the number of hounds used in hunts, saying this would “seriously compromise effective pest control in the country”, particularly on hilly grounds and in woodland.
But SNP ministers announced in 2019 that they would introduce legislation limiting to two the number of hounds or beagles that could be used to flush or find a fox, as in England and Wales.
A Scottish Government consultation published last October said licences for larger hunts would only be granted if the authorities are satisfied that the hunt was for a “specified purpose” such as “the prevention of serious damage to livestock”.
In addition, hunt organisers will have to demonstrate that “there was no satisfactory alternative method of control available”. The consultation said any licence issued would be limited to a specific timescale and geographic area. It would also specify the licence holder’s “reporting duties”, such as the number of foxes culled. Licences could be withdrawn if the holder breaches any of the conditions or refuses to comply with monitoring by the authorities to ensure the rules are being followed.
But Mr Swindells accused the Scottish Government of ignoring “its own independent review and peer-reviewed scientific research, both of which concluded that using dogs to find and flush out foxes is an effective and humane form of pest control”.
Warning that any licensing scheme must be “workable and practical”, he said: “This legislation is an unnecessary and unjustified attack on rural Scotland driven purely by politics. Depriving farmers of the ability to protect their livestock and their livelihoods would be a direct attack on their rights.”
Mr Millar, a Highland Perthshire farmer from Aberfeldy, said: “Control of fox numbers is essential for the local wildlife and for my business. If we are forced to a maximum of two dogs to flush out foxes it will be a totally impractical process as the fox will run around in the forest without fear or opportunity of the dogs flushing it from cover.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We will be bringing forward legislation that will protect foxes, hares and other wild mammals from being chased and killed by packs of dogs. We consulted widely on our proposals and the views of stakeholders and the public have been carefully considered.”
‘Using dogs to find and flush out foxes is an effective and humane form of pest control’