Foxes: Animal Welfare
Question
Catherine West
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of legislation to (a) prohibit the trapping and hunting of live foxes and (b) prevent all forms of cruelty to foxes.
Answer
The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act. Those found guilty under the Act are subject to the full force of the law.
Foxes are not protected for conservation purposes in England. Cage traps and snares can lawfully be used to trap foxes. Anyone using cage traps or snares has a responsibility under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to act within the law to ensure their activities do not cause any unnecessary suffering. For instance, snares and cage traps must be checked at least once a day to prevent a captured fox (or non-target species) suffering. This government takes wildlife crime seriously and there are strong penalties in place for offences committed against wildlife. An industry-owned code of practice for the use of snares to control foxes in England sets out clear principles for the legal use of snares, using evidence from snare-use research to improve snare deployment and design.