![]() Before my marriage, I was raised as a Welsh sheep farmer’s daughter. Westminster must listen to farmers, not armchair expertsīy Rachel Emma Manners, the Duchess of Rutland The environment department declined to comment when approached by the Telegraph. The starting point for healing these divisions would be commissioning high-quality academic research on which future legislation could be built.” Both sides are taking matters into their own hands - respect for the law has diminished. “Today’s politicians need to recognise that the Hunting Act has failed to gain acceptance among rural communities. “It is dispiriting that two decades ago, the debates on fox hunting were driven overwhelmingly by political instincts, and the need for scientific research was scarcely considered. Environment departments must ensure this is assessed scientifically, away from the noise generated by political campaigners,” they said. “ This issue is urgent because the welfare of foxes - as a species and as individuals - is being badly compromised. The number of foxes killed in hunts was limited and the hunt dispersed the foxes that survived from sensitive areas, the vets added. “Perversely, hunting with hounds was much better at achieving this than any of today’s legal methods.” The vets suggested “the most humane method of controlling fox numbers should be based on selection for the weakest animals, minimising the possibility of wounding and preventing the orphaning of dependent young. Environmentalists believe they should be considered ‘a species of conservation concern’.”ĭevelopments in technology such as thermal scopes “combined with a tougher zero tolerance attitude among land managers is behind the plunge in rural fox populations”, the letter said. “In some parts of the countryside, red foxes are approaching extinction. “The 35 per cent fall in the overall fox population over the last 10 years masks the extent of the even sharper fall in rural fox numbers, because there has been a rapid rise in urban fox numbers. The letter continued: “Compounding the need for research is the decline in rural fox numbers since the hunting ban was introduced. could be affected adversely unless dogs could be used”. The vets said there was little evidence on which methods caused foxes the least harm and noted the Burns Report found “the welfare of foxes. The Burns Inquiry, which was set up to examine the facts before the ban was introduced, concluded there was “very little by way of scientific evidence” about the best method of control, while a similar report for the Scottish Government said the evidence was “inconclusive”. Driven by moral outrageĭaniel Greenberg, the barrister who drafted the 2004 Hunting Act, had raised concerns that the law was driven by “moral outrage” rather than concerns for animal welfare, the Telegraph reported. ![]() The letter noted that all major landowners, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, accepted that fox numbers had to be controlled. ![]() It was signed by 103 vets from across the UK, led by Louisa Cheape, a vet who also sits on the committee of The Veterinary Association for Wildlife Management. “Advocates of the 2004 ban on hunting would not have expected their efforts to protect foxes to result in this catastrophic decline,” the letter added. This was because landowners have resorted to shooting foxes to control the population, killing some of the fittest animals and vixens with cubs, which is “contrary to good conservation practice”, the vets said. More than 100 vets have written to ministers warning that “despite decades of intense debate”, there is no research that backs up the arguments on the most “humane way to control fox numbers”.Ī scientific review was needed, they said, as numbers have plummeted since the 2004 ban and red foxes were approaching extinction in some rural areas. Fox populations have plummeted in the wake of the 2004 Hunting Act, vets have warned as they called for the Government to launch a scientific review into population control. ![]()
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