The Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill - January 2023

• The Hunting with Dogs Bill repeals and replaces the Protection of Wild Mammals Act, which was passed in 2002. The bill makes it clear that it is illegal to hunt a wild mammal with a dog. The owner or occupier of land also commits an offence if he/she allows another person to do so. The maximum penalties are either 12 months imprisonment or a £40,000 fine.
• However, the bill also establishes a new licensing scheme, which permits the use of more than two dogs in certain limited circumstances. This is to provide farmers, gamekeepers and land managers access to appropriate and humane control measures, where necessary. This would include using dogs to flush foxes from woodland or scrub to be shot.
• There are a number of exceptions:
• To flush a mammal above ground to shoot it, in order to protect damage to livestock/ woodland/crops or for health reasons.
• To flush a fox underground for the same reasons.
• To flush a mammal for falconry, game shooting and deer stalking.
• To relive the suffering of an injured mammal (but not kill it with a dog) or search for a dead mammal.
• To flush a mammal as part of a scheme for ‘environmental benefit’.
• If operating under any of these exceptions, it is illegal to use more than two dogs, or let dogs form a pack. This is now the same as in England and Wales, but it is widely accepted as being ineffective particularly for controlling foxes in hilly and heavily wooded country.
• To overcome that problem, the licensing scheme will permit more than two dogs to be used when necessary. This is now subject to stakeholder work with NatureScot to develop a practical and workable arrangement. There will be conditions on these licences to prevent allowing “hunting by the back door”. NatureScot will need to approve the purpose, the number of dogs to be used, the number of guns to be deployed and that there is no other effective solution.
• There will be a time limit on a licence, depending on the exception purpose – either 14 days within a six-month period for protection of livestock etc, or for two years for an environmental scheme.
• Trail hunting (using an animal-based scent) will be banned (except where training a dog).

Shooting

• Under the new bill, more than two dogs can be taken on a driven or walked-up game shoot because they are being used to flush gamebirds and not to hunt wild mammals.
• Section 6 within the bill thus provides an exception for “falconry, game shooting and deer stalking”.
• This means that the restriction on using no more than two dogs does not apply on a pheasant, partridge or grouse shoot as long as there is no intention to hunt wild mammals i.e. “no ground game”.
• With regard to rough shooting, the bill clarifies that you cannot use more than two dogs per activity. This would include flushing wild mammals like rabbits, from cover.
• This means that a shooter and their two dogs, as part of a rough shoot party, could flush their own quarry to be shot, provided that other shooters take reasonable steps to ensure that any dog used in the activity does not join with others to form a pack of more than two dogs.
• To avoid dogs forming a pack with other shooters’ dogs, individual shooters should ensure their dogs are not joining up with other dogs down the walking line.
• It means that more than two dogs can be present at a rough shoot, provided that not more than two dogs are working per gun.

Beating

• Regarding beating, it is possible to do so with more than two dogs on a gamebird shoot. There is no limit.
• There are also exceptions within the bill that mean two or more dogs can be used for picking up and retrieving dead game birds or wild mammals.
• On a mixed rough shoot day with both wild mammals and birds as intended quarry, beaters or guns may take more than two dogs, but only two can be working on flushing, per beater or gun.
• Reasonable steps must be taken to ensure that on the beating line, a beater or gun is working only his/her dogs for flushing wild mammals and the dogs are not joining with fellow beaters’ or guns’ dogs to flush the same quarry.
• If someone suspects that a wild mammal is wounded, then only two dogs can be used to search for it, with the wounded wild mammal being despatched by shotgun upon discovery.

Rabbits

• Rabbits will now be included in the definition of “wild mammal”. This is to prevent any chasing/killing a rabbit by a dog and to remove a loophole by which hare coursers were evading prosecution (by claiming to be hunting rabbits).
• The inclusion of rabbits raises issues for rough shooting where rabbits are part of the quarry, and for gundog field trials, where more than two dogs are in the field and could be considered to be forming a pack to chase a rabbit.
• This creates some uncertainty as the law was not intended to restrict rough shooting. The Environment and Land Reform Minister has signalled a willingness to work on post-legislative guidance to reduce the risk of vexatious allegations.