Hares: Close Season

My Lords, the hare is a much-loved species in this country, and England is among the few European countries that do not have a close season on shooting hares during their breeding season. This is a terrible oversight, and this Government’s animal welfare strategy has made a commitment to “consider how to … introduce a close season for hares”. It will require a suitable primary legislative vehicle, and Defra is exploring every opportunity to find one.

I thank the Minister. I know she shares my frustration at the length of time it is taking for this legislation to appear. Although the hare can hide in the long grass, it is about time we flush it out. If the Minister has any suggestions for how we can advance this legislation I would be most grateful.

I thank the noble Lord and others in this Chamber for their huge support to further this legislation. As I said, it needs primary legislation. Legislative slots are always tight, but we are actively looking at how we can find a space during this Parliament. I think the best way that people can help is to express why this is so important and the difference it would make to hares, and to demonstrate that this country is an anomaly in not having a close season.

While a close season is certainly a good idea, I have previously recounted in this House the case of a farming family who, sadly, feel obliged to kill all the hares on their land—because, otherwise, gangs running lucrative betting on illegal hare-coursing crash through their gates, destroy their hedges and drive four-wheel drive vehicles across their food crops, terrorising anyone who tries to stop them. Does the Minister agree that a close season will have no effect on these dangerous people, and that more resourcing for rural policing is what is needed to combat them?

I thank the noble Lord, who has raised this issue previously. The close season for hares is a separate issue from the problem of hare-coursing. Hare-coursing is an illegal activity. It should not be taking place. Unfortunately, it has been picked up by criminals and has proved very lucrative for those criminals, who run betting rings on it. I am extremely concerned by the increase in it, particularly in certain areas. I have written to the Home Office asking for a meeting to discuss this further, because the noble Lord is absolutely right that, without enforcement, this will not to be resolved. These are dangerous people, and we need to do something about it.

My Lords, I commend my noble friend for his unwavering commitment to this issue, both in the other place and in your Lordships’ House, and I also commend the Minister for her clarity on this issue. The Scottish Government took decisive action by introducing a statutory close season for brown hares in 2012 and have also taken steps to protect mountain hares through licensing measures. The evidence clearly indicates that the brown hare population in Scotland has remained broadly stable since then, while welfare risks associated with shooting during the breeding season have reduced significantly. In the light of this, can the Minister say—and I understand that there is a tight parliamentary timetable—why after 14 years we have not taken that particular step to protect hares?

Oh!

I think the rumblings behind me have given the answer to that question. I am determined to find a way to do this, and I will do everything in my power to find a legislative slot. I have a cunning plan; we will have to see whether it comes off. The noble Baroness mentioned mountain hares. Any legislation that we bring forward will be designed to include better protections for mountain hares too.

My Lords, I have kept two hares in my time: one 50 years ago, and one about 10 years ago. They were absolutely delightful. I would not dream of hurting hares, and I would not dream of shooting one. However, this is quite difficult, because the close season for hares gives them quite a long time. There may be ways to protect hares, other than what the Minister is suggesting, that we should pursue, including cutting down courses.

The noble Lord is entitled to his views on this, as everybody is. However, having looked at the evidence, my view is that a close season should run from the beginning of February through to the autumn.

My Lords, on animal welfare issues, I declare an interest as a dog owner. Some 45% of dog owners report that their dogs feel fear from fireworks, and the majority of people who have horses similarly find that fireworks affect their animals. Can the Minister say whether the Government have any plans to bring forward legislation to restrict the decibel limit to 90 decibels, and to restrict the time that fireworks can be sold, so that pet owners and their pets do not suffer needlessly?

In talking about fireworks, the noble Earl is talking about something that is in the gift of the Department for Business and Trade, because the selling of fireworks is a trade issue. However, I can inform him and the House that I have had a meeting with the relevant Minister in DBT to discuss exactly this issue.

My Lords, I suggest to the Minister that the Government’s legislative programme is not the only mechanism by which this could be done. For example, have the Whips been putting out Private Members’ Bills, suggested Bills and handout Bills, which is a well-known practice on both sides? Further, there is still the opportunity at any stage to introduce a Bill, which I am sure would sail through the Commons. It could then come here and not take up government time.

My noble friend has allowed me to express my deep disappointment that the PMB on this, which was Defra’s priority PMB for this Session, was not picked up. I thank noble Lords who were prepared to put it forward but did not come early enough in the ballot.

My Lords, hare populations vary dramatically around our country, and the breeding season can be for most of the year. Can the Minister clarify that she will ensure that hares can still be controlled where appropriate? I declare an interest as the owner of land where hare populations need encouragement rather than control.

Absolutely, I can confirm that. The idea is to bring in a close season in line with those of other countries, not to stop control of hares absolutely.

My Lords, I declare an interest in that I farm organically in Scotland and we have a number of hares around. In fact, when the close season came in in Scotland, it did not really do much to help the hare population, because there are enough foxes around to kill the hares, which I have tried but failed to do something about. What really helps is the creation of new habitat, and the Scottish version of the ELMS system has been very helpful in creating habitat for the hares. Can the Minister comment briefly about how ELMS could affect the habitat of hares?

ELMS and the sustainable farming work that we are doing are designed to increase biodiversity in habitats and to help support the kind of habitat that the noble Earl is talking about. We are also looking at how we can best tackle things such as invasive species, which have a huge impact on our natural biodiversity. I am very keen that we work together on these things, because you cannot do things in silos. You have to bring things together if you are going to get the best result possible. I am sure the noble Earl would say that that was the same for red squirrels.

My Lords, I strongly support what the noble Lord, Lord Cromwell, said earlier, and I declare my interests in the register. Is the Minister aware of the Hares Preservation Act 1892, which specifically forbids the sale of hares during the notional hare breeding season, 1 March to the end of July? Is that Act working and is it being enforced?

Acts from the 19th century have their place in some areas of legislation, but I think in protecting hares, we need to look at the current situation. Populations would have been very different then; farming was very different then. We need to look at how we best protect things such as the mountain hare, while at the same time having a close season for brown hares that aligns with those of other countries.

My Lords, it may be a little obscure to look at legislation from 1892, but from my experience all those years ago in government, there were possibilities of getting the Civil Service to be really creative in looking at how subsidiary legislation could be drawn from such laws. Quite often, I was told that it had to be primary, but it did not: it could be secondary. I wonder whether my noble friend could go back and have another go.

I can assure my noble friend that I have gone back—not just on this but on other things—a number of times to see whether we can bring in legislation without it being primary, but the lawyers have informed me that that is not the case. We need primary legislation. I am sure that the comments that my noble friend has made about older legislation will be looked at very carefully.