Quin: Farmers benefit from hunts
11 December 2000
Quin: Farmers benefit from hunts
By FWi staff
HUNTS provide a valuable service for farmers by collecting nearly 400,000 dead livestock a year, junior Agriculture Minister Joyce Quin has admitted.
The ministers admission in a written Parliamentary answer, has been seized upon by the Countryside Alliance, reports The Daily Telegraph.
The group said this showed that the Government does not understand implications of the bill it is introducing which could ban hunting without compensation.
The alliance said the service was of great value to a depressed agricultural industry.
Information given to the Burns Inquiry into hunting with dogs disclosed that 366,000 carcasses were removed at a cost of 3.37m the previous year.
The report predicted financial consequences for farmers and potential implications for the environment if the service ends.
In the same newspaper columnist Sion Simon says he has changed his mind and no longer opposes fox hunting.
He says there is a pervasive sense of resignation among hunt supporters and feels it is wrong to persecute these people further.
- Hunt complaints at new high, FWi, 06 December 2000
- Blair out to woo Alliance, FWi, 05 December 2000
- The Daily Telegraph 11 December 2000 page 6 and 19