WAWC responds to fox control consultation

The Wild Animal Welfare Committee has responded to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the use of dogs in fox control. The consultation augments a previous exercise considering the recommendations made by Lord Bonomy in his review of the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 - Scotland’s fox hunting legislation. The Scottish Government has already committed to implement a number of the Bonomy recommendations to reform the Act and make it more enforceable. This latest consultation discusses matters that were raised during the Bonomy review but were not the subject of recommendations: reducing the permitted number of dogs to two, subject to exceptions under licence; and prohibiting trail hunting. The consultation also asks a number of related questions.

The WAWC response supports a limit on the number of dogs that may be used to flush wild mammals, such as foxes, towards guns, where such control is deemed permissible, as well as a ban on trail hunting which has no history in Scotland and has raised concerns in England and Wales that it is merely a smokescreen for continued illegal hunting with a full pack. We have also urged the Scottish Government to delete the term “pest species” from the Act, saying:

“The WAWC believes that the use of terms such as pest (or vermin) is outdated and unscientific, and therefore not relevant when considering a modern approach to wildlife management, especially at a time when the importance of animal sentience is being widely embraced.  Thus, we believe it is unethical to justify control of species, with or without the use of dogs, by reference to subjective labels such as “pest”. “

Read the full WAWC response here .