Chamber and committees

I hear what you say about the way in which the dog is worked, but how often does a dog attack a fox underground?

I have been made aware of evidence that terriers that do terrier work have scars on their faces. Surely if you put a dog that is in hunt mode underground and it comes up against a fox, they must come into contact. What is the difference between putting two dogs against each other above ground, which is illegal, and putting a terrier underground against a fox in a highly stressful situation?

How do you prevent the dog from attacking the fox underground?

Ross Macleod, do you want to come in on that?

I have a follow-up question for Duncan Orr-Ewing. Should we give more thought to the environmental benefit that wild mammals, such as foxes and badgers, contribute to an area, such as how their digging in the soil contributes to nutrient recycling and moisture retention, helping to prevent flooding and drought and creating habitats for other animals?

Again, my question is for Duncan Orr-Ewing. The proposed licensing scheme in sections 4 and 8 would allow the use of more than two dogs to search for, stalk, flush, kill or capture a wild animal for a number of purposes related to wildlife management and environmental benefits. However, if the number of dogs was always limited to two, instead of allowing a pack of hounds, that would effectively put an end to mounted fox hunting, which is one of the big motivations behind this bill. Would a hard limit on two dogs have a significant impact on the ability of RSPB to carry out non-traditional work with dogs for conservation purposes?

Thank you.

Please say a bit more. I really do not know your world at all.

I have a couple of questions, the first of which is for Ian Duncan Millar. Thank you for beginning to describe the work with foot packs. Lord Bonomy stated that, when a full pack of dogs is used as part of hunting foxes, 20 per cent of the foxes are killed by the dogs, not the guns. However, killing foxes with dogs is already illegal. What are your experiences? As I said, you began to describe your experiences with foot packs. How many foxes are killed by dogs and how many are killed by guns?

Does it make any material difference to animal welfare whether the hunt takes place on horseback or on foot?