Sunday 12th September 2004
NFU hits out at Hunting Bill | |
|  | | The days of hunting could be numbered |
| | The Government's announcement that it is to fast track the Hunting Bill has come under fire from the NFU. |
|  | | The National Farmers' Union has attacked the Government's plans to force through the Hunting Bill.
The Government is determined to introduce legislation to ban hunting.
Ministers say they will force the law change through even if peers oppose it.
Commons leader Peter Hain has confirmed a vote on banning hunting with dogs will take place next Wednesday, 15th September, but said the ban may be deferred two years.
Rural affairs minister Alun Michael said the delay was to give people involved in hunting "adequate time" to re-home dogs and "refocus" business.
Hare-coursing would be banned three months after the bill is passed, Mr Michael said.
 | | A pro hunt sign in East Devon |
"Violence and intimidation associated with illegal coursing events is a real and pressing problem in many areas of the countryside today," he said.
"There can be no justification for delaying further in giving the police the powers they need to crack down on the criminals involved."
However, the NFU in the South West says the Government’s decision to fast track the Hunting Bill through Parliament "represents a major distraction from the pressing problems facing rural areas that need to be addressed urgently."
The NFU argues that a ban would be damaging to agriculture because of problems and costs in respect of the control of pests and the collection of fallen stock.
The union says this will paricularly hit upland farmers who already face very challenging farming conditions.
In addition, the NFU says a total ban will be "counter productive to the welfare of both wild and farmed animals," and that the so-called 'Middle Way' is better.
But the NFU welcomes the prospect of early action to crackdown on the problem of illegal hare coursing, which many farmers have suffered from around the country.
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