EDM: Close season for hare shooting

Close season for hare shooting

Tabled by Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat) 19 signatures

The motion

That this House notes with concern that the brown hare is the only game species in England and Wales without a statutory close season, leaving pregnant does and nursing mothers liable to be shot during the breeding season and their leverets to starve; recognises that hares are sentient animals capable of suffering; further notes that the shooting of pregnant does and nursing mothers during the breeding season raises significant animal welfare concerns; understands that the brown hare population has declined by an estimated 80% over the past century to fewer than 500,000, with illegal hare coursing placing further pressure on the species; recognises that the brown hare is a UK Biodiversity Action Plan priority species and forms part of the Government's indicators for legally binding species abundance targets; observes that Scotland and Northern Ireland have protected hares since 2011, as do most European countries; welcomes the intention in the Animal Welfare Strategy for England to consider bringing forward a close season for hares; also notes that the Government's concurrent consultation on firearms licensing, including the reclassification of shotguns, provides an opportunity to increase the protection of quarry species during their breeding season; regrets the omission of any close season measure from the King's Speech; and calls on the Government to bring forward legislation at the earliest opportunity establishing a statutory close season for hare shooting so that leverets born this spring and in future years receive the legal protection on which the species' survival depends.

Signatories (19)