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Scotland to introduce new legislation on fox hunting
Mairi Gougeon also revealed an intention to explore the option of a licensing scheme to permit the use of more than two dogs.
Change will limit the number of dogs to two 

Scotland is to introduce new legislation that will limit the number of dogs that can be used in fox hunting.

The change comes after a review of the subject by the Right Honourable Lord Botany and means that hunters will no longer be allowed to use more than two dogs to flush or find a fox.

Announcing the move in Parliament, rural affairs minister Mairi Gougeon also revealed an intention to explore the option of a licensing scheme to permit the use of more than two dogs, if it were deemed necessary for pest control.

Furthermore, she said that the bill will include pre-emptive measures to address the likelihood of trail hunting becoming established in Scotland.

“The welfare of animals in Scotland, whether domestic, farmed, or wild, is one of this government’s highest priorities and so, when it became apparent that legislation introduced in 2002 to protect foxes from unnecessary hunting wasn’t having the desired effect, we wanted to take firm action,” said Ms Gougeon.

“We asked Lord Bonomy to undertake a review into how we can provide a sufficient level of protection for foxes and other wild mammals, whilst allowing for the effective and humane control of them when absolutely necessary, and published a consultation which attracted nearly 19,000 responses. 

“After careful consideration of those responses, I’m pleased to say that we will be taking forward many of the recommendations in Lord Bonomy’s report to clarify and strengthen the Protection of Wild Mammals Act.”

She continued: “Not only do we hope to implement the vast majority of those recommendations, we will be going further. We’re going to strengthen our current legislation and plan to introduce measures that go beyond the rest of the UK in terms of protecting the welfare of our wild mammals.”

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HMRC seeks feedback on locum employment categorisation

News Story 1
 HMRC has invited feedback to its communications regarding the employment status of locum vets and vet nurses.

A letter, sent from HMRC last year, provided guidance for practices categorising the employment status of locum veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses.

It is now inviting anonymous feedback from those making employment status decisions on their communications. The survey takes 5-10 minutes to complete and closes on Friday, 6 February.

The survey can be accessed here. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
Survey seeks ruminant sector views on antimicrobial stewardship

A new survey is seeking views of people working in the UK ruminant sector on how to tackle the challenge of demonstrating responsible antibiotic stewardship.

Forming part of a wider, collaborative initiative, the results will help identify the types of data available so that challenges with data collection can be better understood and addressed.

Anyone working in the UK farming sector, including vets and farmers,is encouraged to complete the survey, which is available at app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk