Fear for Lake District lambs as foxes thrive (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Fear for Lake District lambs as foxes thrive

9:01am Friday 5th May 2006 in News By Ruth Lythe

LAKE district lambs may be at greater risk of being devoured by foxes costing farmers thousands of pounds a year following the controversial ban on hunting with dogs.

A House of Lords debate on fox-hunting heard that, following the introduction of the Hunting Act 2004, it was now more difficult to control foxes in upland parts of the country.

Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Livsey of Talgarth said that foxes were thriving in upland areas such as the Lake District because the legal methods of fox control were ineffective.

And he added that the Hunting Act 2004 had failed to take into account that methods of controlling foxes in upland areas relied heavily on hunting with dogs.

Now, following the 2004 Act, hunts are only allowed to use two dogs to flush a fox to a gun.

Lord Livsey told the House of Lords that in upland areas such as Wales and the Lake District, high numbers of sheep and large areas of forestry meant that controlling foxes with dogs was the "only practical method."

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