Hunts claim deer and fox numbers falling because of ban

A CONTROVERSIAL survey has suggested that the numbers of deer and foxes on Exmoor are falling as a result of the Government’s hunting ban.
Hunts had previously claimed in particular that it was their management of deer which maintained the herd and that the numbers would drop dramatically without hunting.
Now, a survey carried out among the 184 hunts which are registered with the Masters of Foxhounds Association appears to support the claim.
Some hunts said the number of foxes in their area had fallen by more than a third since hunting was banned.
At the same time, they said more foxes were suffering sarcoptic mange, a fatal disease caused by parasitic mites which results in hair loss and lacerations.
Research by the Exmoor and District Deer Management Society has also pointed to a 20 per cent fall in deer numbers during last year, whereas in the decade before the hunting ban there had been steady annual increases.
Countryside Alliance chief executive Simon Hart said: “In the two years since the Hunting Act came into force it has been exposed as illogical and unworkable, and this research shows it has also had a negative impact on the status and welfare of both the fox and deer populations.
“It is shocking to think 700 hours of Parliamentary time were spent, supposedly in the interests of animal welfare, devising a law which has failed at every level.
“The case for the repeal of the Hunting Act is unanswerable and its eventual demise increasingly inevitable.”
However, the League Against Cruel Sports refused to accept the findings of the survey on the grounds that it was carried out by the hunting lobby.
League spokesman Barry Hugill said any such figures had to be taken with a pinch of salt.

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