Menu Content/Inhalt

Relevant extracts regarding hunting from The Blair Years - 2007
“Before the hunting statement, Gerald Kaufman (chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee) called me to say he would never see himself as a loyal Tony Blair supporter again if we back-tracked on this. I said I never realised he was so passionate about it and he said he was, adding ‘If the Tony who stood up to Milosevic and bin Laden can’t stand up to the Countryside Alliance, I can’t support him.’”
Alastair Campbell
Thursday 21st March 2002

Contribution of foxhunting to biodiversity

| Print |

As stated in Creation and conservation of habitat by foxhunting [link], the work undertaken by hunts benefits wildlife apart from foxes. The research commissioned through the Game Conservancy Trust found significantly higher numbers of butterflies and wild flowers in areas managed for hunting, compared to unmanaged areas. The data supplied by hunts was also compared against other data with regard to butterflies. The analysis found that rare butterflies occur more frequently in grid squares containing woodland managed for hunting.

An area of gorse managed by the Sinnington hunt in Yorkshire provides habitat for the last remaining colony of the pearl bordered fritillary butterfly in the Eastern half of England. In a letter to the land’s owners, the Butterfly Conservation Charity wrote: “The Ravenswick Estate Company is to be congratulated for achieving what the rest of Yorkshire has failed to do”. The management strategy was foxhunting.

Hunts also manage some of Britain's most precious wildlife habitats, and several have voluntarily entered into SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) management agreements with English Nature. Two examples are the Belvoir hunt in Leicestershire and the Woodland Pytchley in Northants.

Hedgerows are also planted and protected by hunts and pro-hunting farmers. A 1987 publication found that pro-hunting farmers had removed 35% fewer hedgerows than the average farmer. Of course, some hedgerows are now protected by law, but this leaves about 80% unprotected. There are also grants for planting new hedges. Pro-hunting farmers are particularly keen to take up these grants. Many now uncommon farmland species are dependent on hedges for their survival. (add quote from Leader-Williams)

It is also necessary to maintain existing hedgerows that are cut by mechanical means, as without careful management and stock-proofing they become “gappy” and soon lose nearly all of their conservation value. The best way of maintaining this value is through hedge-laying, a traditional and highly labour-intensive practice. Many hunts promote hedge-laying and run competitions to preserve and promote this traditional art. Similarly, but regionally, some hunts manage dry-stone walls.

By culling foxes, hunts help protect many wild species which are vulnerable to predation, such as ground-nesting birds. We know that where foxes are not controlled, they can wreak havoc on wild species. For example, when foxes invaded the bird reserve at Scolt Head in Norfolk they inflicted great harm on the rare and protected sandwich tern colony. In the New Forest the survival of the Montagu’s harrier is in jeopardy due to foxes taking the chicks. The New Forest Hunt was used to control foxes near the nesting site. In 1997 the hunt was called in by the Forestry Commission to help control foxes and killed eight within one mile of the nesting site. Most importantly the hounds located the fox’s den which was close to the nest. The fox was dug out and humanely killed. Unfortunately the New Forest Hunt’s effectiveness in contributing to biodiversity has been severely restricted by the hunting ban.