Hunting Act 2004
Encyclopedia
The Hunting Act 2004 is an Act
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
. The effect of the Act is to outlaw hunting
with dog
s (particularly fox hunting
, but also the hunting of deer
, hares
and mink
and organised hare coursing
) in England and Wales
from 18 February 2005. The pursuit of foxes with hounds was banned in Scotland
two years earlier under legislation of the devolved Scottish Parliament
, while it remains legal in Northern Ireland
.
s to ban, or restrict, hunting were introduced in 1949, but one was withdrawn and the other defeated on its second reading in the House of Commons
. The Labour government appointed the Scott Henderson Inquiry to investigate all forms of hunting. Opponents of hunting claimed that the membership of the committee was chosen to produce a pro-hunting report. The inquiry reported its view that "Fox hunting makes a very important contribution to the control of foxes, and involves less cruelty than most other methods of controlling them. It should therefore be allowed to continue."
Twice, in 1969 and in 1975, the House of Commons passed legislation to ban hare coursing, but neither bill became law. Three further private member's bills were introduced by Kevin McNamara
in 1992 (Wild Mammals (Protection) Bill), by Tony Banks
in 1993 (Fox Hunting (Abolition) Bill), and by John McFall in 1995 (Wild Mammals (Protection) Bill)—all of which failed to go on to become law.
The Labour Party
came to power in 1997 with a manifesto saying, "We will ensure greater protection for wildlife. We have advocated new measures to promote animal welfare
, including a free vote
in Parliament on whether hunting with hounds should be banned." A new private member's bill, introduced by Michael Foster MP
, received a second reading with 411 MPs voting in support, but failed due to lack of parliamentary time. The Burns Report
in 2000 concluded that forms of fox hunting "seriously compromise the welfare of the fox", but (in line with its remit) did not draw any conclusion on whether hunting should be banned or should continue. In a later debate in the House of Lords, the inquiry chairman, Lord Burns
also stated that "Naturally, people ask whether we were implying that hunting is cruel... The short answer to that question is no. There was not sufficient verifiable evidence or data safely to reach views about cruelty. It is a complex area." Following the Burns inquiry, the Government introduced an 'options bill' which allowed each House of Parliament to choose between a ban, licensed hunting, and self-regulation
. The House of Commons
voted for a banning bill and the House of Lords
for self-regulation. The 2001 general election
was then called and the bill ran out of parliamentary time.
Following a series of evidence hearings in 2002, on 3 December 2002, DEFRA
Minister of State
for Rural Affairs Alun Michael
introduced a bill which would have allowed some licensed hunting. The Commons passed an amendment proposed by Tony Banks to ban hunting entirely, but the bill was rejected by the House of Lords.
as the Hunting Act 2004 on 18 November 2004 when Michael Martin, Speaker of the House of Commons
, invoked the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949
, with the bill not having received the approval of the House of Lords who had preferred an Act that regulated hunting with dogs. The Parliament Acts are rarely invoked, the Hunting Act was only the seventh statute since 1911 enacted under their provisions.
The final passing of the legislation was considered very controversial with the unelected House of Lords criticised for being undemocratic block on the legislation with other newspapers and broadcasters condemning Tony Blair
's Labour administration for giving in to what they perceived as the prejudicial views of anti-hunting Labour backbenchers. MPs of all parties voting for the legislation asserted that hunting caused unnecessary suffering and said that they represented the majority of the public who favoured a ban on hunting with dogs. Their assertion of majority support for the thrust of the legislation seems to have some basis in evidence, a September 2002 survey commissioned by The Daily Telegraph
indicated that a majority of people (57%) agreed with the statement that 'hunting with dogs is never acceptable'. A survey by MORI for the BBC
carried out in February 2005 found that there was a plurality (47% supporting, 26% opposed) of support for the new legislation, but not an absolute majority.. Subsequently, polling conducted by Ipsos MORI in 2010 has shown 76% opposition to repealing the Hunting Act with only 18% support for repeal. This poll also showed 71% of rural residents wanted to see fox hunting remain illegal
) to challenge the Act by questioning the legality of the Parliament Act 1949
in the High Court and Court of Appeal
failed, and the ban took effect on 18 February 2005. The House of Lords
agreed with the lower courts in a judgment delivered in October 2005.
A separate application for judicial review
was made to the High Court of England and Wales, arguing that the anti-hunting
legislation contravenes individual human or property rights
protected in the European Convention on Human Rights
(ECHR) and under European Community law, that is the free movement of goods and services
. Some believed that there was a possibility that the challenges could obtain a degree of compensation for some of those adversely affected, although the Scottish courts
did not reject the equivalent Scottish law
, the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002
, which also lacked any compensation provision. The application was successively dismissed by the High Court in July 2005, the Court of Appeal
in June 2006 and the House of Lords in November 2007. An appeal to the European Court of Human Rights
was ruled inadmissible.
The 2010 general election resulted in a coalition of the Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties. Under the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement
, the government aims to give the House of Commons a free vote "to express its view" on repealing the Hunting Act 2004. In November, a number of MPs told the BBC that a vote is not planned before early 2012.
have said, on a number of occasions, that enforcement of the Hunting Act 2004 like much wildlife crime is a low priority for them, although they say that they will enforce the law. However, the Police's UK National Wildlife Crime Unit has said that policing of hunting should be a priority for forces in some areas of the country, most notably the South West. Animal welfare groups like the RSPCA, IFAW and the League Against Cruel Sports
continue monitoring hunts that they believe may be breaking the law and, in some cases, taking private prosecutions themselves.
To the end of 2010 there have been over 180 convictions under the Hunting Act 2004. Pro-hunt groups claim that there have only, been seven successful prosecutions resulting in the conviction of hunt staff. The most recent successful prosecution of a registered hunt was in October 2011, against two members of the Fernie Hunt. They say that the Hunting Act 2004 is being used to deal with poaching offences, but Justice Minister Crispin Blunt
said in a written answer to Parliament in June 2011 that "it is not possible to separately identify those specific cases proceeded against under the Hunting Act 2004 related to hunts recognised and regulated by the Council of Hunting Associations." Animal welfare groups have criticised this interpretation of the statistics.
In February 2009, following Exeter Crown Court's acquittal of Tony Wright, huntsman of the Exmoor Foxhounds, overturning his conviction in the Taunton Deane
Magistrates' Court, the High Court
dealt with a request by the Crown Prosecution Service
to decide whether defendants have a right to say they are "innocent until proved guilty" when claiming the defence of hunting under an exemption, and what is meant by "hunting". In its judgment, the court ruled that the burden of evidence in "exempt hunting" cases was on the prosecution to prove that the conditions of the exemption had not been met, and that searching for a mammal was not an offence. This confirmed the acquittal of Tony Wright. The court concluded that for the offence of "hunting a wild mammal" to take place there must be an identifiable mammal. Subsequently three pending prosecutions against hunts, including one brought privately by the League Against Cruel Sports, were dropped and a further two cases which did reach court were thrown out at the conclusion of the prosecution cases when the District Judges ruled that there was no case to answer.
claim that the Act is unclear, while the League Against Cruel Sports
argues the opposite. The difference between the two centres around the alternative views that the Act contains either "tightly drawn exemptions" or "glaring loopholes."
For example, letters from Countryside Alliance officials to a series of local newspapers around the UK in early 2006 say, "The Act makes it an offence to hunt a mouse with a dog but not a rat, you can legally hunt a rabbit but not a hare. You can flush a fox to guns with two dogs legally but if you use three it's an offence. You can flush a fox to a bird of prey
with as many dogs as you like." The sections below examine whether such exemptions allow loopholes.
These two exemptions do not make it possible for "traditional" hunting to continue. Rabbits tend to stay very close to their warrens and will go underground at the sight of dogs, thus not providing the chase that hunts need.
This exemption was claimed by one stag hound
packs in the Exmoor
area. In an appeal judgment following the conviction of two stag hunt
officials, the judge said that such hunting conducted primarily for recreation was illegal.
Expert opinion on the limitations of flushing foxes to birds of prey will be available to advise courts considering such cases, when they are litigated. For now, the question of what is lawful remains to be determined.
. The Act outlaws hunting with terriers (also known as terrier work) with a narrowly drawn exemption, described by the Minister, Alun Michael MP as existing "for gamekeeper
s". The Act requires that any hunting below ground must comply with a number of conditions:
Despite this, many fox hunts
continue to use terriers on a regular basis. Three people, not associated with hunts, have pleaded guilty to offences under the Hunting Act 2004 for hunting with terriers and a fourth was found guilty after a trial.
events in villages near Malton, North Yorkshire
in March 2007 organised by the Yorkshire Greyhound Field Trialling Club, the District Judge in Scarborough magistrate
s court clarified that the club was mistaken in believing that because the dogs they had been using were muzzle
d, the practice was legal.
decision, hunting does "not include the mere searching for an unidentified wild mammal for the purpose of stalking or flushing it."
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. The effect of the Act is to outlaw hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
with dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s (particularly fox hunting
Fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
, but also the hunting of deer
Red Deer
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...
, hares
European Hare
The European hare , also known as the brown hare, Eastern Jackrabbit and Eastern prairie hare, is a species of hare native to northern, central, and western Europe and western Asia. It is a mammal adapted to temperate open country. It is related to the similarly appearing rabbit, which is in the...
and mink
American Mink
The American mink is a semi-aquatic species of Mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe and South America. Because of this, it is classed as Least Concern by the IUCN. Since the extinction of the sea mink, the American mink is the...
and organised hare coursing
Hare coursing
Hare coursing is the pursuit of hares with greyhounds and other sighthounds, which chase the hare by sight and not by scent. It is a competitive sport, in which dogs are tested on their ability to run, overtake and turn a hare, rather than a form of hunting aiming at the capture of game. It has a...
) in England and Wales
England and Wales
England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...
from 18 February 2005. The pursuit of foxes with hounds was banned in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
two years earlier under legislation of the devolved Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
, while it remains legal in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
.
Background
Many earlier attempts had been made to ban hunting. Two private member's billPrivate Member's Bill
A member of parliament’s legislative motion, called a private member's bill or a member's bill in some parliaments, is a proposed law introduced by a member of a legislature. In most countries with a parliamentary system, most bills are proposed by the government, not by individual members of the...
s to ban, or restrict, hunting were introduced in 1949, but one was withdrawn and the other defeated on its second reading in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
. The Labour government appointed the Scott Henderson Inquiry to investigate all forms of hunting. Opponents of hunting claimed that the membership of the committee was chosen to produce a pro-hunting report. The inquiry reported its view that "Fox hunting makes a very important contribution to the control of foxes, and involves less cruelty than most other methods of controlling them. It should therefore be allowed to continue."
Twice, in 1969 and in 1975, the House of Commons passed legislation to ban hare coursing, but neither bill became law. Three further private member's bills were introduced by Kevin McNamara
Kevin McNamara (politician)
Dr. Joseph Kevin McNamara, KSG is a British Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament for almost 40 years.-Early life:...
in 1992 (Wild Mammals (Protection) Bill), by Tony Banks
Tony Banks, Baron Stratford
Anthony Louis Banks, Baron Stratford was a British Labour Party politician, who was a Member of Parliament from 1983 to 2005, before being made a Member of the House of Lords. In government, he served for two years as Minister for Sport...
in 1993 (Fox Hunting (Abolition) Bill), and by John McFall in 1995 (Wild Mammals (Protection) Bill)—all of which failed to go on to become law.
The Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
came to power in 1997 with a manifesto saying, "We will ensure greater protection for wildlife. We have advocated new measures to promote animal welfare
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
, including a free vote
Conscience vote
A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party....
in Parliament on whether hunting with hounds should be banned." A new private member's bill, introduced by Michael Foster MP
Michael John Foster
Michael John Foster was a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Worcester from 1997 until 2010, and was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for International Development....
, received a second reading with 411 MPs voting in support, but failed due to lack of parliamentary time. The Burns Report
Burns Inquiry
The Burns Inquiry was a Government committee set up to examine the facts in the debate in the United Kingdom about fox hunting and other forms of hunting with dogs.-Establishment:...
in 2000 concluded that forms of fox hunting "seriously compromise the welfare of the fox", but (in line with its remit) did not draw any conclusion on whether hunting should be banned or should continue. In a later debate in the House of Lords, the inquiry chairman, Lord Burns
Terence Burns, Baron Burns
Terence Burns, Baron Burns, GCB is a British economist, made a life peer in 1998 for his services as former Chief Economic Advisor and Permanent Secretary to HM Treasury. He is currently Chairman of Santander UK, Non-Executive Chairman of Glas Cymru, and a Non-Executive Director of Pearson Group...
also stated that "Naturally, people ask whether we were implying that hunting is cruel... The short answer to that question is no. There was not sufficient verifiable evidence or data safely to reach views about cruelty. It is a complex area." Following the Burns inquiry, the Government introduced an 'options bill' which allowed each House of Parliament to choose between a ban, licensed hunting, and self-regulation
Self-policing
Self-policing, a form of self-regulation, is the process whereby an organization is asked, or volunteers, to monitor its own adherence to legal, ethical, or safety standards, rather than have an outside, independent agency such as a governmental entity monitor and enforce those standards.-To the...
. The House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
voted for a banning bill and the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
for self-regulation. The 2001 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
was then called and the bill ran out of parliamentary time.
Following a series of evidence hearings in 2002, on 3 December 2002, DEFRA
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom...
Minister of State
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...
for Rural Affairs Alun Michael
Alun Michael
Alun Edward Michael is a British Labour Co-operative politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Cardiff South and Penarth since 1987. He was formerly First Minister of Wales and leader of the Welsh Labour Party from 1999 to 2000.-Education:Michael was born at Bryngwran Anglesey, son of...
introduced a bill which would have allowed some licensed hunting. The Commons passed an amendment proposed by Tony Banks to ban hunting entirely, but the bill was rejected by the House of Lords.
Royal Assent
A bill identical to the one passed by the House of Commons in 2003 was reintroduced to the Commons on 9 September 2004. It received Royal AssentRoyal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
as the Hunting Act 2004 on 18 November 2004 when Michael Martin, Speaker of the House of Commons
Speaker of the British House of Commons
The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is John Bercow, who was elected on 22 June 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin...
, invoked the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949
Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949
The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 are two Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which form part of the constitution of the United Kingdom. Section 2 of the Parliament Act 1949 provides that that Act and the Parliament Act 1911 are to be construed as one.The Parliament Act 1911 The...
, with the bill not having received the approval of the House of Lords who had preferred an Act that regulated hunting with dogs. The Parliament Acts are rarely invoked, the Hunting Act was only the seventh statute since 1911 enacted under their provisions.
The final passing of the legislation was considered very controversial with the unelected House of Lords criticised for being undemocratic block on the legislation with other newspapers and broadcasters condemning Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's Labour administration for giving in to what they perceived as the prejudicial views of anti-hunting Labour backbenchers. MPs of all parties voting for the legislation asserted that hunting caused unnecessary suffering and said that they represented the majority of the public who favoured a ban on hunting with dogs. Their assertion of majority support for the thrust of the legislation seems to have some basis in evidence, a September 2002 survey commissioned by The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
indicated that a majority of people (57%) agreed with the statement that 'hunting with dogs is never acceptable'. A survey by MORI for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
carried out in February 2005 found that there was a plurality (47% supporting, 26% opposed) of support for the new legislation, but not an absolute majority.. Subsequently, polling conducted by Ipsos MORI in 2010 has shown 76% opposition to repealing the Hunting Act with only 18% support for repeal. This poll also showed 71% of rural residents wanted to see fox hunting remain illegal
Challenges
Attempts by pro-hunting groups (such as Jackson v Attorney GeneralJackson v Attorney General
Jackson v Attorney General [2005] UKHL 56 was a House of Lords case concerning the legality of the use of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 to pass the Hunting Act to ban fox hunting...
) to challenge the Act by questioning the legality of the Parliament Act 1949
Parliament Act 1949
The Parliament Act 1949 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.This Act must be construed as one with the Parliament Act 1911...
in the High Court and Court of Appeal
Court of Appeal of England and Wales
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it...
failed, and the ban took effect on 18 February 2005. The House of Lords
Judicial functions of the House of Lords
The House of Lords, in addition to having a legislative function, historically also had a judicial function. It functioned as a court of first instance for the trials of peers, for impeachment cases, and as a court of last resort within the United Kingdom. In the latter case the House's...
agreed with the lower courts in a judgment delivered in October 2005.
A separate application for judicial review
Judicial review
Judicial review is the doctrine under which legislative and executive actions are subject to review by the judiciary. Specific courts with judicial review power must annul the acts of the state when it finds them incompatible with a higher authority...
was made to the High Court of England and Wales, arguing that the anti-hunting
Anti-hunting
Anti-hunting is a term which is used to identify or describe persons or groups, generally in a political context, who stand in opposition to hunting. It is also used to describe efforts to prevent hunting through legislation and other means which can include acts of civil disobedience such as hunt...
legislation contravenes individual human or property rights
Property
Property is any physical or intangible entity that is owned by a person or jointly by a group of people or a legal entity like a corporation...
protected in the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
(ECHR) and under European Community law, that is the free movement of goods and services
Four Freedoms (European Union)
The European Union's Internal Market seeks to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people – the EU's four freedoms – within the EU's 27 member states.The Internal Market is intended to be conducive to increased competition, increased specialisation, larger...
. Some believed that there was a possibility that the challenges could obtain a degree of compensation for some of those adversely affected, although the Scottish courts
Courts of Scotland
The civil, criminal and heraldic Courts of Scotland are responsible for the administration of justice. They are constituted and governed by Scots law....
did not reject the equivalent Scottish law
Scots law
Scots law is the legal system of Scotland. It is considered a hybrid or mixed legal system as it traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. With English law and Northern Irish law it forms the legal system of the United Kingdom; it shares with the two other systems some...
, the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002
Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002
The Protection of Wild Mammals Act was passed by the devolved Scottish parliament in February 2002, making Scotland the first part of the United Kingdom to ban traditional fox hunting and hare coursing.-Passage of the Act:...
, which also lacked any compensation provision. The application was successively dismissed by the High Court in July 2005, the Court of Appeal
Court of Appeal of England and Wales
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it...
in June 2006 and the House of Lords in November 2007. An appeal to the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
was ruled inadmissible.
The 2010 general election resulted in a coalition of the Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties. Under the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement
Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement
The Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement was a policy document drawn up following the 2010 general election in the United Kingdom...
, the government aims to give the House of Commons a free vote "to express its view" on repealing the Hunting Act 2004. In November, a number of MPs told the BBC that a vote is not planned before early 2012.
Enforcement
Police forcesPolice
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
have said, on a number of occasions, that enforcement of the Hunting Act 2004 like much wildlife crime is a low priority for them, although they say that they will enforce the law. However, the Police's UK National Wildlife Crime Unit has said that policing of hunting should be a priority for forces in some areas of the country, most notably the South West. Animal welfare groups like the RSPCA, IFAW and the League Against Cruel Sports
League Against Cruel Sports
The League Against Cruel Sports are an animal welfare organisation that campaigns against all blood sports including bull fighting, fox hunting and hare coursing. It also campaigns to ban the manufacture, sale and use of snares, for the regulation of greyhound racing and for an end to commercial...
continue monitoring hunts that they believe may be breaking the law and, in some cases, taking private prosecutions themselves.
To the end of 2010 there have been over 180 convictions under the Hunting Act 2004. Pro-hunt groups claim that there have only, been seven successful prosecutions resulting in the conviction of hunt staff. The most recent successful prosecution of a registered hunt was in October 2011, against two members of the Fernie Hunt. They say that the Hunting Act 2004 is being used to deal with poaching offences, but Justice Minister Crispin Blunt
Crispin Blunt
Crispin Jeremy Rupert Blunt is a British Conservative Party politician. He is the Member of Parliament for the Reigate constituency in Surrey, and since May 2010 he has been the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Youth Justice within the Ministry of Justice.He first entered...
said in a written answer to Parliament in June 2011 that "it is not possible to separately identify those specific cases proceeded against under the Hunting Act 2004 related to hunts recognised and regulated by the Council of Hunting Associations." Animal welfare groups have criticised this interpretation of the statistics.
In February 2009, following Exeter Crown Court's acquittal of Tony Wright, huntsman of the Exmoor Foxhounds, overturning his conviction in the Taunton Deane
Taunton Deane
Taunton Deane is a local government district with borough status in Somerset, England. Its council is based in Taunton.The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the Municipal Borough of Taunton, Wellington Urban District, Taunton Rural District,...
Magistrates' Court, the High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
dealt with a request by the Crown Prosecution Service
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
to decide whether defendants have a right to say they are "innocent until proved guilty" when claiming the defence of hunting under an exemption, and what is meant by "hunting". In its judgment, the court ruled that the burden of evidence in "exempt hunting" cases was on the prosecution to prove that the conditions of the exemption had not been met, and that searching for a mammal was not an offence. This confirmed the acquittal of Tony Wright. The court concluded that for the offence of "hunting a wild mammal" to take place there must be an identifiable mammal. Subsequently three pending prosecutions against hunts, including one brought privately by the League Against Cruel Sports, were dropped and a further two cases which did reach court were thrown out at the conclusion of the prosecution cases when the District Judges ruled that there was no case to answer.
Sentence
A person guilty of an offence under this Act is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.What the law stops: the exemption/loophole issue
The meaning of the Hunting Act 2004 is a matter of substantial public dispute. The Countryside AllianceCountryside Alliance
The Countryside Alliance is a British organisation promoting issues relating to the countryside such as country sports, including hunting, shooting and angling...
claim that the Act is unclear, while the League Against Cruel Sports
League Against Cruel Sports
The League Against Cruel Sports are an animal welfare organisation that campaigns against all blood sports including bull fighting, fox hunting and hare coursing. It also campaigns to ban the manufacture, sale and use of snares, for the regulation of greyhound racing and for an end to commercial...
argues the opposite. The difference between the two centres around the alternative views that the Act contains either "tightly drawn exemptions" or "glaring loopholes."
For example, letters from Countryside Alliance officials to a series of local newspapers around the UK in early 2006 say, "The Act makes it an offence to hunt a mouse with a dog but not a rat, you can legally hunt a rabbit but not a hare. You can flush a fox to guns with two dogs legally but if you use three it's an offence. You can flush a fox to a bird of prey
Bird of prey
Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
with as many dogs as you like." The sections below examine whether such exemptions allow loopholes.
Hunting mice, rats, rabbits, and hares
The Hunting Act 2004 bans activities that Parliament believed to be cruel sports and permitted activities that it believed to be necessary for land managers. Parliament accepted the view that, where rats and rabbits were pests, hunting them was legitimate. MPs did not believe that there was any necessity to use dogs to hunt mice and believed that hare hunting was cruel, which is why these activities were not exempted from the Act.These two exemptions do not make it possible for "traditional" hunting to continue. Rabbits tend to stay very close to their warrens and will go underground at the sight of dogs, thus not providing the chase that hunts need.
Flushing wild mammals to guns
Traditionally, in some upland areas, foxes were flushed by packs of dogs to be shot. This activity is still permitted in Scotland under the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002. However MPs, in making law for England and Wales, decided that this activity did result in unnecessary suffering, not least because it is more difficult to control a large number of hounds in dense woodland where this activity used to take place.This exemption was claimed by one stag hound
Deer hunting
Deer hunting is survival hunting or sport hunting, harvesting deer, dating back to tens of thousands of years ago. Which occurred though out Europe Asia and North America There are numerous types of deer throughout the world that are hunted.- New Zealand :...
packs in the Exmoor
Exmoor
Exmoor is an area of hilly open moorland in west Somerset and north Devon in South West England, named after the main river that flows out of the district, the River Exe. The moor has given its name to a National Park, which includes the Brendon Hills, the East Lyn Valley, the Vale of Porlock and ...
area. In an appeal judgment following the conviction of two stag hunt
Stag hunt
In game theory, the stag hunt is a game which describes a conflict between safety and social cooperation. Other names for it or its variants include "assurance game", "coordination game", and "trust dilemma". Jean-Jacques Rousseau described a situation in which two individuals go out on a hunt. ...
officials, the judge said that such hunting conducted primarily for recreation was illegal.
Flushing a fox to a bird of prey
Many traditional hunts have bought birds of prey and say that they are using hounds to flush foxes so that the bird of prey can hunt them. The Act requires that the intention must be "for the purpose of enabling a bird of prey to hunt the wild mammal." Many experts, such as the Hawk Board, deny that any bird of prey can reasonably be used in the British countryside to kill a fox which has been flushed by (and is being chased by) a pack of hounds. If this view proves to be correct, then it is unlikely that such a use of dogs is lawful.Expert opinion on the limitations of flushing foxes to birds of prey will be available to advise courts considering such cases, when they are litigated. For now, the question of what is lawful remains to be determined.
Hunting below ground
Hunting below ground takes place with terriersWorking terrier
A working terrier is a small type of dog which pursues its quarry into the earth. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the name dates back to at least 1440, derived from early modern French terrier - from the medieval Latin terrarius from the Latin terra .With the growth of popularity of...
. The Act outlaws hunting with terriers (also known as terrier work) with a narrowly drawn exemption, described by the Minister, Alun Michael MP as existing "for gamekeeper
Gamekeeper
A gamekeeper is a person who manages an area of countryside to make sure there is enough game for shooting, or fish for angling, and who actively manages areas of woodland, moorland, waterway or farmland for the benefit of game birds, deer, fish and wildlife in general.Typically, a gamekeeper is...
s". The Act requires that any hunting below ground must comply with a number of conditions:
- The activity must be carried out "for the purpose of preventing or reducing serious damage to gamebirds or wild birds which a person is keeping or preserving for the purpose of their being shot."
- The person using the dog must have with them written evidence that the land used belongs to them or that they have been given permission to use the land by the occupier. This permission must be shown immediately to a police officerPolice officerA police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
on request. - Only one dogWorking terrierA working terrier is a small type of dog which pursues its quarry into the earth. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the name dates back to at least 1440, derived from early modern French terrier - from the medieval Latin terrarius from the Latin terra .With the growth of popularity of...
may be used underground at any one time. - Reasonable steps must be taken to ensure that:
- the mammal is flushed as soon as found
- the mammal is shot as soon as flushed,
- the manner in which the dog is used complies with a code of practice, and the dog must be under sufficient control so as not to prevent this, and
- the dog is not injured.
Despite this, many fox hunts
Fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase, and sometimes killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds, and a group of followers led by a master of foxhounds, who follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.Fox hunting originated in its current...
continue to use terriers on a regular basis. Three people, not associated with hunts, have pleaded guilty to offences under the Hunting Act 2004 for hunting with terriers and a fourth was found guilty after a trial.
Harecoursing with muzzled dogs
In a private prosecution under the Act brought by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) who had observed two hare coursingHare coursing
Hare coursing is the pursuit of hares with greyhounds and other sighthounds, which chase the hare by sight and not by scent. It is a competitive sport, in which dogs are tested on their ability to run, overtake and turn a hare, rather than a form of hunting aiming at the capture of game. It has a...
events in villages near Malton, North Yorkshire
Malton, North Yorkshire
Malton is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The town is the location of the offices of Ryedale District Council and has a population of around 4,000 people....
in March 2007 organised by the Yorkshire Greyhound Field Trialling Club, the District Judge in Scarborough magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
s court clarified that the club was mistaken in believing that because the dogs they had been using were muzzle
Muzzle
A muzzle may be:* the snout of an animal* Muzzle , a device that covers an animal's snout* Muzzle , the mouth of a firearm* Muzzle , a song on The Smashing Pumpkins album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness...
d, the practice was legal.
What the law does not cover
The Hunting Act 2004 does not stop, and was not intended to stop, 'drag hunting' where hounds are trained to follow an artificial scent, because no animal is chased. According to a High CourtHigh Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
decision, hunting does "not include the mere searching for an unidentified wild mammal for the purpose of stalking or flushing it."
Section 15 - Commencement
Section 15 provides that the Act came into force at the end of the period of three months that began on the date on which it was passed. The word "months" means calendar months. The day (that is to say, 18 November 2004) on which the Act was passed (that is to say, received royal assent) is included in the period of three months. This means that the Act came into force on 18 February 2005.The Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act
The equivalent Act in Scotland similarly makes it illegal to chase or deliberately kill mammals with dogs. There are a number of differences between the two Acts:- The Scottish Act does not place a two dog limit on the flushing of a mammal to guns in order to shoot it;
- With respect to flushing foxes above ground to guns to shoot them, only the Scottish Act permits this to be done to protect game birds;
- With respect to flushing foxes below ground to guns to shoot them, only the Scottish Act permits this to be done to protect livestock;
- The Scottish Act allows someone convicted to be sentenced for up to six months in prison, there is no such power in the Hunting Act 2004.
External links
- Defra Q&A on the Hunting Act
- BBC In depth analysis
- Countryside Alliance 'Case for repeal'
- League Against Cruel Sports: How we got hunting banned
UK Legislation
- Explanatory notes to the Hunting Act 2004.