Hunt expert hits out at dogs rule
A hunt expert today hit out at new laws which mean hounds used in hunts in Shrewsbury will have to be kept on leads when they are on public roads. He claimed they would be difficult to enforce. A hunt expert today hit out at new laws which mean hounds used in hunts in Shrewsbury will have to be kept on leads when they are on public roads. He claimed they would be difficult to enforce. Brian Fanshawe, a consultant for the Council of Hunting Associations, said he was surprised the new dog control orders had been implemented. Last week it emerged that hounds were not exempt from the orders. These were rubber-stamped by Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council in December after councillors back-tracked on a bylaw which would have seen dogs kept on leads in Shrewsbury's Quarry park. Read the full story in today's Shropshire Star
A hunt expert today hit out at new laws which mean hounds used in hunts in Shrewsbury will have to be kept on leads when they are on public roads. He claimed they would be difficult to enforce.
Brian Fanshawe, a consultant for the Council of Hunting Associations, said he was surprised the new dog control orders had been implemented. Last week it emerged that hounds were not exempt from the orders.
These were rubber-stamped by Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council in December after councillors back-tracked on a bylaw which would have seen dogs kept on leads in Shrewsbury's Quarry park.
Regarding how the orders affect hounds in the council catchment area, Councillor Judith Williams said at a meeting last week: "They should be kept on a lead on all public roads, carriageways, adjoining pavements and verges managed by a highway authority, local authority or a housing association."
Mr Fanshawe is working as a consultant for the CHA, which is looking into the legalities of the orders on behalf of the North Shropshire Hunt, which starts its traditional Boxing Day hunt from Shrewsbury livestock market.
He said: "We're still looking at it with our legal department. I can't believe that on every public highway, public road and footpath people have got to have their dogs on a lead.
"It appears it's something to create alarm. The police are going to have quite a game enforcing it.
"People who think they don't like hunting with hounds make legislation and find it affects every individual with dogs, rather like the Hunting Act."
Councillor Danny Moore had raised the issue over concerns that hunting dogs would roam free while crossing public areas to get to the livestock market on hunt days.
He tabled a motion to last week's council meeting asking how the new bylaws applied to hunts, using the specific example of hounds meeting at Shrewsbury livestock market for Boxing Day hunts.
The North Shropshire Hunt today said it could not comment on the issue until the legalities of the orders had been determined.
