Group gives guarded welcome to restricted hunt licence

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has welcomed the restrictions applied to the Ward Union Hunt Club licence issued in Co Meath for the hunting of deer.

One of the 28 conditions is that the deer will not actually be hunted by dogs.

Instead of having dogs peruse a deer, the animal will be released to lay a scent trail along the course and recaptured before the hounds are freed and the hunt gets under way, the Minister for the Environment John Gormley said.

However, the council was hoping for a complete refusal by Mr Gormley.

And the council is concerned about the fact that the deer shall be driven by mounted riders "to an end point" (to create a scent for the dogs to follow), as they believe this will terrify and stress the deer.

Civil servants will also monitor the meetings in Co Meath to ensure compliance with the conditions of the licence.

“I believe that the conditions attached to the licence address my concerns from a wider public policy perspective about the public safety issues surrounding the hunting of a large animal by a large group on horseback and a pack of hounds through an increasingly urbanised countryside,” said Mr Gormley.

Campaigners picketing outside the Dáil said the move was a step in the right direction, but felt the conditions were unworkable.

Mr Gormley said, before granting the licence, he raised a number of concerns with the hunt, particularly in relation to an incident last January when a stag ran into a school playground in Kildalkey, Co Meath, while parents waited to pick up their children from the school.

He also took into account compliance with previous licence conditions.

The new licence, granted under the Wildlife Act, 1976, states that deer may only be hunted by the Ward Union Hunt Club up to March 31, with the number, sex and location of all deer released and not recaptured reported to the minister.

Only sound, fit and mature deer can be selected for hunting and they must be recaptured without any danger to the animal.

They will be inspected by a veterinary surgeon afterwards and not hunted again for at least 30 days.

The council is concerned that given the manner of recapture, i.e. wrestling the deer to the ground, with at least one deer being choked to death during a previous recapture, that this abuse is to continue.

Bernie Wright, of the Association of Hunt Saboteurs, said it will be hard for the club to keep to the conditions of the licence and to keep the fast animal under control.

“The positive aspect of this is that it is a step in the right direction, but as far as we are concerned we still want the stag taken out of the hunt altogether,” she said with activists outside Leinster House.

“It is a bit of a farce putting a stag through this discomfort, thinking it is being chased and then being caught and put back in a crate.

“The same could be done with drag hunting, by pulling the stag’s scent through a course.

“Personally, I don’t think this is workable and I think it will have to be revoked.”