§ Mr. BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) how many foxes have been removed from the Royal Parks in each of the last four years; and what the method employed was; [1826]
(2) how many and what species of animals have been culled in the Royal Parks in each of the last four years. [1825]
§ Mr. CabornResponsibility for the subject of this question has been delegated to the Royal Parks Agency under its chief executive, William Weston. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from William Weston to Mr. Tony Banks, dated 20 July 2001:
I have been asked by the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport to reply to your Parliamentary Questions about the number and species of animals culled in the Royal Parks in each of the last four years, and the number of foxes removed from the Royal Parks in the same period.
753WI am sorry I have been unable to reply sooner, but these figures were not available centrally and it takes some time to collate them from around the eight Royal parks for which I am responsible. I should also point out that we have only started collecting this data since 1998.
We removed foxes either because they are having a serious effect on the population of other wildlife or because they are in poor health, mainly due to mange. We have removed the following numbers, using humane traps and shotguns.
- 1998: 125
- 1999: 92
- 2000: 83
- 2001: 110
I enclose a list of other species culled in each of the last four years.
Animal species 1998 1999 2000 2001 Red deer 331 193 240 105 Fallow deer 402 217 235 361 Squirrel 1,915 891 1,282 588 Rat 55 50 23 36 Rabbit 3,568 2,770 2,450 776 Mice 0 4 9 0 Greylag Geese 0 0 25 0 Canada Geese 0 0 97 0 Moorhen 12 11 18 0 Coot 8 7 12 0 Crow 740 335 541 429 Magpie 230 161 210 153 Jay 9 0 0 0 Pigeon 1.061 2,035 2,176 518 Hornet 12 0 2 0 Wasp 12 19 33 0