Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2015 to Question 219164, which part of the Hunting Act 2004 she referred to as containing an exemption which makes it legal to hunt and kill foxes with a pack of dogs for sport.

The Hunting Act 2004 sets out several classes of exempt hunting under which dogs may be used to hunt wild mammals, subject to strict conditions. The full details of the Hunting Act exemptions are available online at:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/37/schedule/1.

Following the introduction of the Hunting Act, many hunts also use an artificially laid scent to simulate the path that would be taken by a fox during traditional hunting activity. This is one way in which hunts are able to continue to meet and exercise their hounds.