Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
animal. Hunters argue that it helps nature by giving an incentive to main-
tain wooded land. Furthermore, it gives employment to several thousand
people.
Parliament first debated whether to outlaw the sport in 1949. Neither the
Labour nor the Conservative Parties wanted to confront the issue along
party lines, so at various times they have proposed “a free vote,” that is,
without enforcing party discipline. After a bill passed its second read-
ing in Commons in 1998, the pro-hunting Countryside Alliance rallied
250,000 protesters in London. Then the next year in a surprise move, the
Labour prime minister, Tony Blair, announced the party would officially
support a ban. In 2001 the House of Commons voted to outlaw fox hunting
by a large majority, but it then needed a vote of the House of Lords, which
rejected it by 317 to 68. While the upper house is generally not too impor-
tant, this was an exception. Furthermore, the upper-class bias of the Lords
fit the social status of the hunters. In 2002 Parliament voted again, with
Commons favoring a complete ban and the Lords favoring a compromise
of licensed hunting. This time even more protesters marched on London:
400,000. In 2004 Commons again voted for the ban and Lords rejected it.
In an unusual procedure, the Commons forced the bill to become law over
the objections of the Lords. The act forbids hunting foxes, deer, and hares
with dogs, but does not cover using dogs to flush out unidentified wild
mammals or drag hunting, where the hounds follow an artificial scent.
This results in a lot of hunts with horses and hounds galloping across the
countryside that look much like fox hunts but technically are not.
In March 2001 foot-and-mouth disease broke out in Essex, and soon
spread throughout England and Wales, closing farms and parks. The viral
sickness affects cattle and other livestock, first causing fever, drooling, and
blisters on the feet, and then death. Wild deer could be victims, too. The
government responded by culling sick animals, eventually killing seven
million cattle and sheep. People who were on farms, moors, and open land
sometimes spread the virus on their shoes, so the government set up disin-
fection stations. The government postponed local elections for fear those
bringing farmers to the polls would spread the disease. Later the general
election was also postponed. The Ministry for Agriculture was blamed
for not recognizing and solving the problem promptly, so authority was
transferred to DEFRA.
Like the United States, the British Isles face invasions by exotic species,
many coming from North America. The gray squirrel is winning the compe-
tition against the native red squirrel, and the American mink eats seabirds,
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