House of Commons - Regulatory Reform

7. There are provisions which establish exceptions to the prohibition on taking or killing of deer during the close seasons. Section 6(1) of the 1991 Act disapplies the prohibition when the act is carried out in pursuance of a requirement of the Secretary of State under section 98 of the Agriculture Act 1947. The Secretary of State may issue a notice under section 98 of that Act in order to prevent damage to crops, pasture, animal or human foodstuffs, livestock, trees, hedges, banks or any works on specified land. Such a notice may require the person on whom it is served (who would be the owner or occupier of land on which pest animals are present and causing damage) to take defined action to rectify the problem or specify a particular result to be achieved.

8. A right of exemption to the prohibition on taking or killing of deer during close seasons is also given under section 7 of the 1991 Act to the occupier of land, a person of his household or in his service with his written authority or any person with legal right to kill or take deer or acting on behalf of a person with such rights on the specified land, where that land is cultivated, pasture or enclosed woodland and where he has reasonable grounds for believing deer of the same species are causing damage to crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber or any other property. This is sometimes referred to as the "farmers' exemption".

9. Section 6(2) of the 1991 Act creates an exemption for any act done for the purpose of preventing the suffering of an injured or diseased deer.

10. Section 8 of the 1991 Act contains provisions which enable the issuing of licences which exempt persons from the prohibitions otherwise imposed by that Act regarding the use of nets, traps, stupefying drugs and muscle relaxing agents and the missiles used to carry or contain them in cases where the persons are acting for the purpose of moving deer between areas, or in order to take them alive for scientific or educational purposes.

11. It is also important to note that a further exemption from the prohibition on killing deer in the 1991 Act applies to deer which are being kept for their meat, skins or other by-products or as breeding stock. In this case section 2(3) of the Act creates a further exemption where the person keeping them has the deer enclosed and they are conspicuously marked in such a way as to identify that they are kept by that person. In this case, the killing of those deer by that person, or by someone authorised by him to kill them, is likewise not an offence against the Act. This means that those who farm deer are not prevented from culling them by the general provisions which control the management of wild deer.

TAKING OR KILLING DEER AT NIGHT

12. Section 3 of the 1991 Act provides that it shall be an offence to take or intentionally kill any deer between the expiry of the first hour after sunset and the start of the last hour before sunrise. The permitted exceptions to this prohibition are where the act is done to prevent the suffering of an injured or diseased deer, or where a notice issued under section 98 of the Agriculture Act 1947 compels night-time action, or when the act occurs during the use of devices specified in section 8 for the purpose of moving deer or taking deer alive for scientific or educational purposes.

USE OF PROHIBITED WEAPONS AND OTHER ARTICLES

13. Section 4(2) of the 1991 Act introduces Schedule 2 to that Act, in which are listed firearms and ammunition which are proscribed for the taking, killing or injuring of deer. Schedule 2 makes it illegal to use for these purposes, in respect of firearms, any smooth-bore gun, any rifle having a calibre of less than .240 inches or a muzzle energy less than 2,305 joules (1,700 foot pounds) or any air gun, air rifle or air pistol; in respect of ammunition it is illegal to use any cartridge for use in a smooth-bore gun or any bullet for use in a rifle other than a soft-nosed or hollow-nosed bullet.

14. Section 4(2) of the 1991 Act also makes it unlawful to use any arrow, spear or similar missile or any missile, whether discharged from a firearm or otherwise, which carries or contains any poison, stupefying drug or muscle-relaxing agent for the same purposes.

15. Section 4(4) of the 1991 Act further makes it unlawful to discharge any firearm or project any missile at any deer from a mechanically propelled vehicle, or to use a vehicle of this kind for the purpose of driving deer (except for where, as section 4(5) provides, this is done by or with written authority of the occupier of enclosed land where deer are usually kept, and in relation to deer on that land).

16. A number of exemptions are established by sections 6 to 8 of the 1991 Act which permit: the use of traps and nets to prevent suffering to injured or diseased deer; permitting the use of smooth-bore guns for killing deer as an act of mercy provided that the person using a gun of this kind to kill deer has not himself injured the animal by his own unlawful act; permitting the use of smooth bore guns with barrel less than 24 inches in length provided they be of a gauge not less than 12 bore and use shot size of at least AAA; and where an owner or occupier of land uses a shotgun of a gauge not less than 12 bore loaded with cartridges of a certain type to prevent serious damage to crops or other property; and in relation to the use of various devices used for the purpose of moving deer or capturing them alive for scientific or educational purposes.

The aims and effects of the proposed order

17. The Department has listed the intended legal effects of the proposed Order at paragraph 18 of the Explanatory Statement. The Order would make amendments to sections 2, 4, 6, 8 and Schedule 1 of the 1991 Act. The effects of the Order are given as:

a) Allow .22 centre-fire rifles to be used for shooting smaller species of deer;

b) Allow any reasonable means of humanely despatching deer that are suffering due to injuries or disease;

c) Allow dependent deer to be taken or killed if they have been deprived of, or are about to be deprived of, their mother, at any time of year;