§ Mr. Cohenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he proposes to seek to amend the Protection of Animals Act 1911 to provide greater protection for the hedgehog, so as to make it an offence to cause suffering to such animals in any circumstances; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MellorWe do not have any plans to extend the scope of the Protection of Animals Act 1911 to include wild animals such as hedgehogs. The course which the Government adopted in the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 was to give special protection and to extend it to certain species of wild animal which were thought to be in need of it. Schedule 6 to the 1981 Act contains restrictions on the killing and taking of hedgehogs.