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A | |
Bill | |
[AS AMENDED IN STANDING COMMITTEE F] | |
To | |
Make provision about hunting wild mammals with dogs; to prohibit hare | |
coursing; and for connected purposes. | |
Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and | |
consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present | |
Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:— | |
Part 1 | |
Offences | |
1 Hunting wild mammals with dogs | |
A person commits an offence if he hunts a wild mammal with a dog, unless his | |
hunting is— | 5 |
(a) registered for the purpose of pest control, or | |
(b) exempt. | |
2 Registered hunting | |
(1) Hunting by an individual is registered if he is the subject of individual | |
registration in respect of— | 10 |
(a) wild mammals of the species hunted, and | |
(b) the area in which the hunting takes place. | |
(2) Hunting by an individual is also registered if— | |
(a) he participates in hunting by a group, | |
(b) at least one of the group is registered under a group registration in | 15 |
respect of— | |
(i) wild mammals of the species hunted, and | |
(ii) the area in which the hunting takes place, and | |
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(c) his participation in the hunting is recorded under arrangements made | |
in pursuance of section 30(5). | |
(3) Hunting by an individual is also registered if— | |
(a) he participates in hunting by a number of individuals, | |
(b) one of the individuals is the subject of individual registration in respect | 5 |
of— | |
(i) wild mammals of the species hunted, and | |
(ii) the area in which the hunting takes place, and | |
(c) the condition of registration imposed by section 29(5) (maximum | |
number of hunters) is complied with. | 10 |
(4) In this Act— | |
“group registration” means registration under Part 2 pursuant to an | |
application under section 16, and | |
“individual registration” means registration under Part 2 pursuant to an | |
application under section 15. | 15 |
3 Exempt hunting | |
(1) Hunting is exempt if it is within a class specified in Schedule 1. | |
(2) The Secretary of State may by order amend Schedule 1 so as to vary a class of | |
exempt hunting. | |
4 Hunting: assistance | 20 |
(1) A person commits an offence if he knowingly permits land which belongs to | |
him to be entered or used in the course of the commission of an offence under | |
section 1. | |
(2) A person commits an offence if he knowingly permits a dog which belongs to | |
him to be used in the course of the commission of an offence under section 1. | 25 |
5 Hunting: defence | |
It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under section 1 in respect | |
of hunting to show that he reasonably believed that the hunting was— | |
(a) registered, or | |
(b) exempt. | 30 |
6 Deer | |
Registration under Part 2 shall not be effected in respect of the hunting of deer | |
of any species. | |
7 Hares | |
Registration under Part 2 shall not be effected in respect of the hunting of hares. | 35 |
8 Hare coursing | |
(1) A person commits an offence if he— | |
(a) participates in a hare coursing event, | |
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(b) attends a hare coursing event, | |
(c) knowingly facilitates a hare coursing event, or | |
(d) permits land which belongs to him to be used for the purposes of a hare | |
coursing event. | |
(2) Each of the following persons commits an offence if a dog participates in a hare | 5 |
coursing event— | |
(a) any person who enters the dog for the event, | |
(b) any person who permits the dog to be entered, and | |
(c) any person who controls or handles the dog in the course of or for the | |
purposes of the event. | 10 |
(3) A “hare coursing event” is a competition in which dogs are, by the use of live | |
hares, assessed as to skill in hunting hares. | |
9 Use of dogs below ground | |
Registration under Part 2 shall not be effected in respect of any hunting that | |
involves the use of a dog below ground. | 15 |
Part 2 | |
Registration | |
Introductory | |
10 Tests for registration: utility and least suffering | |
(1) The first test for registration in respect of proposed hunting of wild mammals | 20 |
is that it is pest control. | |
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) hunting is pest control if and only if it is | |
likely to make a significant contribution to the prevention or reduction of | |
serious damage which the wild mammals to be hunted would otherwise cause | |
to— | 25 |
(a) livestock, | |
(b) game birds or wild birds (within the meaning of section 27 of the | |
Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (c. 69)), | |
(c) food for livestock, | |
(d) crops (including vegetables and fruit), | 30 |
(e) growing timber, | |
(f) fisheries, | |
(g) other property, or | |
(h) the biological diversity of an area (within the meaning of the United | |
Nations Environmental Programme Convention on Biological | 35 |
Diversity of 1992). | |
(3) The second test for registration in respect of proposed hunting of wild | |
mammals is that it is likely to cause significantly less pain, suffering or distress | |
to the wild mammals to be hunted than would be likely to be caused by any | |
other reasonably available method of achieving the contribution mentioned in | 40 |
subsection (2). | |
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11 The registrar | |
(1) The Secretary of State shall appoint a person (“the registrar”) to maintain a | |
register for the purposes of this Act. | |
(2) The registrar shall hold and vacate office in accordance with the terms and | |
conditions of his appointment. | 5 |
(3) The registrar shall comply with— | |
(a) regulations made by the Secretary of State under this Part, and | |
(b) any direction given to the registrar by the Hunting Tribunal | |
(established under section 12) in the course of or on the determination | |
of proceedings under this Part. | 10 |
(4) In exercising his functions the registrar shall have regard to any relevant | |
decision of the Hunting Tribunal. | |
(5) The Secretary of State may— | |
(a) pay remuneration and allowances to the registrar; | |
(b) defray expenses of the registrar; | 15 |
(c) provide staff, equipment or other facilities for the registrar. | |
(6) Service as the registrar is employment in the civil service of the State. | |
12 The Hunting Tribunal | |
(1) There shall be a Hunting Tribunal. | |
(2) Schedule 2 (which makes provision about the Tribunal) shall have effect. | 20 |
(3) The Lord Chancellor may make rules— | |
(a) regulating the exercise of a right to appeal or apply to the Tribunal; | |
(b) about practice and procedure in relation to proceedings before the | |
Tribunal. | |
13 Prescribed animal welfare bodies | 25 |
(1) The Secretary of State shall by regulations prescribe one or more bodies as | |
prescribed animal welfare bodies for the purposes of this Part. | |
(2) The Secretary of State may prescribe a body only if he thinks that it is wholly | |
or partly concerned with the protection or welfare of animals. | |
(3) The Secretary of State may make a payment by way of grant (which may be | 30 |
subject to conditions) to a prescribed animal welfare body. | |
14 Advisory bodies | |
(1) English Nature may provide advice on request to the registrar or the Tribunal | |
about the exercise of a function under this Act in relation to England. | |
(2) The Countryside Council for Wales may provide advice on request to the | 35 |
registrar or the Tribunal about the exercise of a function under this Act in | |
relation to Wales. | |
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