Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to make an assessment of the humaneness of hunting with dogs.

Rory Stewart

The Government has no plans to make an assessment of the humaneness of hunting with dogs. However, in 1999 a Government Committee (the Burns Inquiry) was set up to examine the facts in the debate about hunting with dogs, including whether hunting with dogs is cruel. The findings of the inquiry were published on 9 June 2000 (www.huntinginquiry.gov.uk/mainsections/huntingframe.htm).

On 12 March 2001 Lord Burns stated: “… There was not sufficient verifiable evidence or data safely to reach views about cruelty. It is a complex area …". [Hansard 12 March 2001; col. 533

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/2001/mar/12/hunting-bill].

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