Hunting in Scotland: One year on

In this article, first published in My Countryside magazine, Jake Swindells looks at the impact of the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act and what’s next.

The one-year anniversary of the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act coming into force was marked on 3 October. Whilst some anti-hunting organisations celebrated the new law as the end of hunting in Scotland, the Countryside Alliance is committed to proving that it is not. We are working with our members and partner organisations to ensure that the licensing scheme provided for in the Act, and administered by NatureScot, is fit for purpose. That work is delivering results and licences are now being regularly issued for the use of packs in fox control across Scotland. Whatever the claims of the anti-hunt lobby, the law enables the continued use of packs of hounds for the protection of livestock and red-listed species in Scotland. We are determined that the licensing scheme will work. 

There have been some bumps in the road, and there is still a little way to go to get the implementation of the legislation exactly right, but with hard work from our team and our members involved in fox control with packs of hounds, we have achieved good results. Despite the legislation being enacted with no warning and no process for applications in place in October last year the first licences were issued within months. Packs across Scotland are now routinely receiving licences for fox control this winter and, whilst the legislation was entirely unnecessary and unjustified, we do seem to be heading for a workable solution for all involved. 

The next challenge is a review of the guidance, and the licensing scheme attached to this legislation by NatureScot. We have made regular representations to the agency and hope that it continues to consider the evidence, and the experience of operators working on the ground, and implement positive changes to enable a fluid working relationship for the future. The land managers, farmers and other rural workers applying for licences to use more than two dogs are very well versed in this type of operation given that most of them have countless years of expert knowledge on what works and does not work when managing wildlife and deploying a pack of dogs across our countryside. 

We should not forget that in addition to the licence to prevent serious damage to livestock, people can also apply for environmental benefit licences. Predator control is sometimes a challenging topic for politicians and the public, yet land managers are constantly trying to balance predator control requirements with the declining populations of our red-listed species such as the curlew, golden plover and the iconic capercaillie. Ask any gamekeeper in Scotland about the need to include stringent predator control practices in land management plans and they will quote the limitations imposed upon them by legislation pushed through the Scottish Parliament over the past three years, much of which had a Green tinge to it. 

Despite this, hunting with more than two dogs can continue in Scotland, under licence, to carry out essential fox control. From the Highlands to the Borders of Scotland, sheep farmers are able to protect vulnerable livestock from predator attack, and we hope that over the course of this year we see more environmental benefit licences granted to protect the red-listed species of birds that form part of our Scottish heritage. It would be inexcusable to allow these species to disappear from our countryside, as predicted by NatureScot themselves, because of a failure to implement the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act properly.