Hunt ban leading to lamb losses
LAKE DISTRICT fell farmers are suffering heavy lamb losses this spring after the restrictions imposed on the traditional lambing call-out service by the hunting ban.
Lambing time in the Lake District’s upland flocks provides rich pickings for the big fell foxes.
Hill farmers have always relied on the lambing call-out service that brought the huntsman and a small pack of hounds to locate and kill specific foxes causing the damage.
But the ban means hunts can only turn out with two hounds, a pack strength described as “ludicrous” by the Central Committee of Fell Packs.
Tony Temple, who farms in the Duddon Valley, had several lambs taken by foxes in March and is concerned about his main April lambing, which now has to rely on a limited lambing call-out service.
He would usually call out the Eskdale and Ennerdale Foxhounds, whose master, Edmund Porter, is chairman of the Central Committee of Fell Packs.
“It’s a ludicrous situation,” said Mr Porter. “Hunting with just two hounds backed up with armed marksmen is the only way we are allowed to operate this spring and there is a heap of paperwork to sort out before we can even set foot on anyone’s land.”
Using marksmen to back up the hounds is presenting further legal problems.
Windermere farmer Roger Westmoreland, who is also master of the Coniston Foxhounds, has spent several weeks ensuring his lambing call-out service meets the new legal requirements.
As many of the farmers are National Trust tenants, the trust has had to provide written permission to the hunt to allow hounds and guns on to specific farms.
Despite all the efforts to put a workable system in place to meet the new hunting regulations, farmers and huntsmen are not convinced that hounds backed up by marksmen provide an effective method of control.
“It isn’t easy positioning guns in the hope that the fox will come within range.
“And shooting is never 100% certain to kill, whereas the traditional lambing call-out with hounds would ensure the culprit was always dispatched,” said Mr Westmorland.