Call for relaxation on two-hound rule for hunts

A cross-party alliance of MPs is backing proposals to allow hunts to use a full pack of hounds to flush foxes to the gun. The call for a relaxation in the law came after a study, commissioned by the Federation of Welsh Farmers’ Packs (FWFP), demonstrated that using a full pack of hounds would be almost twice as effective as using two hounds. Farmers have said that attacks on lambs have increased, and that the current law does not allow for effective control of foxes. MPs from the Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Labour and Plaid Cymru parties have joined the call to allow flushing foxes to the gun with a full pack. Glyn Davies, Conservative MP for Montgomeryshire, said: “Whether you are in favour of a ban on hunting or not, if you accept that you can have dogs to flush foxes out, to limit it to two has no logic.”

The Countryside Alliance argued that the move would not be a substitute for repeal, but agreed that there was an urgent need for more effective fox control: “The Alliance does… understand the urgent need for the only effective method of fox control in many upland areas to be reinstated and so supports the call of the FWFP for the removal of the two dog limit for flushing and shooting foxes.”

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