Tim Bonner: Defra deaf on Hare Poaching

A report this week that Defra is considering introducing a close season for hares is neither surprising (Secretary of State George Eustice has been a long-time advocate), or particularly controversial as the principle of restricting shooting of hares to the period outside the main breeding season is something all sensible people would support. What is, however, slightly vexing is that whilst there is little evidence that hare welfare is being significantly affected by shooting during the breeding season, there is another issue which is having a huge impact on both hares and rural communities.

In times past it was the plough that always followed the combine but now, unfortunately, it is more likely to be a battered four-wheel drive full of lurchers. Hare poaching is endemic across the East of England and in seemingly any other area with a significant hare population. And the problem is not limited to the autumn or winter. Hare poaching is happening now and will continue until crops are high enough for hares to hide in. You can be absolutely certain that the last people who will take any notice of a 'close season' are the hare poachers.

Hare poaching - and associated trespass and criminality - has become a rural crime priority issue in many areas. Criminal damage caused by poachers smashing access gates and driving across crops are a daily occurrence and assaults on farmers are worryingly common. Such criminality has a range of secondary impacts including fear of crime, the cost to farming operations of securing land from trespass in vehicles, and in extreme cases, the culling of hare populations to discourage poachers.

Rural police forces have made hare poaching a priority, but they are hampered by the limitations of legislation much of which was passed in the nineteenth century. The Game Acts, which are the primary laws for tackling poaching, do not have consistent and workable powers of seizure for dogs and vehicles which are included in more modern legislation, nor do they allow the police to recover costs for kennelling dogs during prosecutions.

For several years the Alliance, alongside our colleagues in the CLA, NFU and RSPCA, have been calling on Defra to make these non-controversial amendments to the Game Acts. We have also asked the government to consider extending criminal behaviour orders to enable courts to impose them on poachers across police force areas, and to revise sentencing guidelines and ensure magistrates understand the full gravity of poaching offences. These are practical proposals which would help the police tackle the scourge of hare poaching.
In response we have been passed from pillar to post. Defra says that policing poaching is a Home Office issue, and the Home Office that it is a Defra one. In the context of this refusal to address what is a rural crime priority and the obvious impact on hare populations, Defra's focus on a close season seems deaf to the real concerns of rural communities.

One thing is for certain and that is if Defra pushes forward with legislation on a close season without having addressed the epidemic of hare poaching, Ministers will face some very difficult questions about their legislative priorities.