There is good news, and, not so good news.
Let's start with the good news.
The good news is that the Scottish Parliament has voted to pass the new 'Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill.' A clear majority of MSPs voted for the bill, with 90 MSPs voting in favour of it, with 30 MSPs voting to reject it, therefore, THREE times as many MSPs voted in favour of the bill.
Which is great news.
The bill will ban trail hunting, therefore, trail hunting can no longer be used as a cover for hunting foxes.
Trail hunting was introduced two decades ago after the initial ban on fox hunting. Trail hunting involves the hunter laying down the scent of an animal (usually a fox scent) to be chased by hounds, this encourages hounds to chase after a fox (or other animals scent), if the hounds came across real foxes (or other animals scent) then sadly it could end up in a poor fox (or other animals) being chased and killed, which is why it needs to be banned.
Now comes the bad news...
The law still won't outright and completely ban fox hunting in Scotland, as this law still allows two dogs to kill a fox; this can still be seen as a loophole that still allows for foxes to be treated with cruelty.
There are also other loopholes in this bill that still allows for fox hunting and cruelty towards foxes, these loopholes are - that allow one dog to go underground to 'flush foxes out,' while another loophole allows licences to be granted for the use of more than two dogs to kill a fox.
Concluding Thoughts On The Bill
The bill is a welcoming step in the right direction. It will be the strongest law to protect foxes in the UK so far, and hopefully, will result in England and Wales creating a law which closes the loopholes in their law and protects foxes.
In Northern Ireland, like the Republic of Ireland, fox hunting is still legal. Northern Ireland remains the only part of the UK which doesn't have any laws banning fox hunting.
Back to Scotland.
While Scotland has now passed a law which closes some loopholes, there are still loopholes which allow foxes to be killed with two dogs or with one dog when a fox is underground, and, there is also the allowance of being granted a licence to kill a fox with more than two dogs with this law.
The law still doesn't fully ban foxes from being killed by dogs, therefore, Scotland still fully hasn't fully banned fox hunting, and neither has the rest of the UK.
The law brings to an end the loophole of trail hunting, which is welcoming news but fails to close all loopholes.
Creating a kinder country for foxes and other animals requires a complete ban on hunting, which is a cruel and outdated activity. Compassion for animals and respect for our natural world should always be something we have, but it's even more important when we live through a biodiversity crisis.
Scotland is also one of the world's most nature-depleted countries, many animals have been hunted to extinction in Scotland in the past, such as lynxes and wolves. The Scottish wildcat has also almost been hunted to extinction. The fate of these animals should be a warning for us - that hunting animals can and does result in their extinction.
Let's protect animals. Let's protect our natural world. One day, it is hoped that a full ban on fox hunting will exist in Scotland, the rest of the UK and elsewhere.
For now, though, we continue to wait... 🦊
Source - HERE.
Source - HERE.
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