HC Deb 27 July 1943 vol 391 cc1411-2W
Sir H. Morris-Jones

asked the right hon. and gallant Member for Rye, as representing the Forestry Commissioners, what complaints the Commissioners have received concerning damage by foxes done to sheep stocks on hill sheep farms in the neighbourhood of their forests in North Wales; and what measures have been taken by the Commissioners to keep fox populations in bounds?

Sir G. Courthope

A number of complaints have been received relating to the killing of lambs on sheep farms in North Wales by foxes harboured in the Forestry Commission's plantations; worrying of sheep has also been alleged. Foxes are plentiful in many parts of North Wales, both in the Commission's young plantations and elsewhere, and there is genuine belief among a large number of sheep farmers that foxes are guilty of all these misdeeds, but from evidence adduced it is difficult to determine the extent to which foxes are the culprits, apart from carrying off lambs already dead. Some farmers in the vicinity of the new forests claim to have suffered loss. Others state categorically that foxes have killed no sheep or lambs on their ground although foxes are constantly seen. On present testimony it is not possible to acquit the fox of a share in the depredations, but evidence is accumulating, both directly and in letters to the local newspapers, that uncontrolled dogs are responsible at least in part owing to neglect to shut up farm dogs securely at night. Six cases of sheep worrying and lamb killing by dogs are known to have occurred on farms adjacent to the Commission's forests in Merionethshire in the first three months of 1943, while during the last few seasons in Beddgelert Forest, Carnarvonshire, no fewer than seven stray dogs have been caught in traps set for foxes within the forest. The Commissioners maintain a staff of trappers to keep down forest vermin, including foxes, and they incur expenses clearing rides to facilitate fox trapping and shooting. They also subscribe to local fox-killing associations and established hunts in the infested districts. The foxes known to have been killed during the twelve months ended September, 1942, in the counties of Carnarvon, Merioneth and Montgomery (the counties chiefly concerned) numbered 894, of which 355 were destroyed by the Commission's personnel and 539 in co-operation with officers of the war agricultural executive committees and other agencies. A further total of 553 foxes are recorded as having been killed in the six months to March. 1943. The cost to the Commission of fox killing and preventive measures, subscriptions and bonuses for foxes killed in the three counties amounted in 1942 to £1,144.