Chamber and committees

The information that you give the committee is really important, so if you can provide that in writing, it would be most helpful. I am conscious that only eight or nine minutes are left in this session.

Yes, please—and your examples of where the bill is lacking in comparison with existing legislation would be helpful.

We will move on to the prohibition of trail hunting, which is covered in sections 11 and 12. There are questions from Beatrice Wishart and Jenni Minto.

Do you believe that there are no animal welfare grounds for banning trail hunting and that the reason for doing so is simply that the practice of people jumping on horses and riding across the countryside is unpalatable to some people?

Okay. Thank you. I call Jenni Minto

According to the witnesses from the previous panel, there are situations across Scotland where shooting foxes is not possible without being able to flush them from the undergrowth. Does that limit your ability to prevent damage to endangered ground-nesting birds?

Has any evidence ever been presented to the RSPB to suggest that flushing foxes might be the best method but the RSPB has decided that it does not want to do that, for other reasons?

Yes.

We are not talking about shooting sheep; the issue is about hunting with dogs.

We move to our final topic, which is the prohibition of trail hunting.

That brings us to the end of the evidence session. I thank both witnesses for their evidence; it has been most useful.