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Home Office

Answer

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to introduce a closed season for (a) hare coursing and (b) shooting; and if he will make a statement. [141748] Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Hunting Bill, which received its First Reading on 7 December 2000, contains three options dealing with the issue of hunting with dogs in England and Wales. The option at schedule 3 of the Bill would provide for a ban on hare coursing. There are no current plans for a close season for hare coursing should Parliament not introduce a ban, though the activity as regulated by the National Coursing Club should not take place for most of the period between March and August each year. The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) inform me that a Biodiversity Action Plan for the Brown Hare was set up with the objective of maintaining and expanding existing populations. It does not, however, recommend introducing a close season for shooting hares (though there are restrictions on that under the Ground Game Act 1880), and there are currently no plans to bring in such a measure. Close seasons for shooting a number of other species of wildlife already exist in the Game Act 1831 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. These are for conservation purposes, to allow numbers to recover and to ensure, in accordance with the European Community Wild Birds Directive, that hunting does not occur during rearing seasons.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

359 c181W;359 c179W; 141748

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Animal welfare Conservation Dogs Hare coursing Hunting Wildlife

Legislation

Hunting Bill 2000/01

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk