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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to investigate the potential spread of disease caused by packs of hunting hounds.

All hunts which feed fallen stock to hounds are registered and regularly inspected by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), to ensure they are operating in accordance with animal by–products regulations and handling carcases in a biosecure way, with only meat which is safe being fed to dogs. Following recent investigations into the risks of feeding fallen stock to dogs, controls have been strengthened to stop the feeding of offal to dogs, which may present a greater risk of disease such as bovine TB. Hunt kennel staff are undergoing training in co-operation with APHA on how to safely remove and dispose of offal when preparing material for feeding to hounds.

In addition, new rules are in place requiring that hounds fed on fallen stock are regularly treated for Echinococcus sp (tapeworm) in accordance with the recommendations of a veterinary professional, and that records are kept of such treatment for a period of at least two years and made available for inspection by APHA. These measures should reduce the risk of disease spread from feeding of fallen stock to hounds, and we have no plans for further investigations.

Specifically in relation to the potential spread of TB, dogs pose a very low risk of transmitting TB to cattle herds and, overall, they play an insignificant role in the persistence of the disease in England. Nevertheless, APHA has offered advice to hunt kennels on options for managing this very low risk. As part of its normal investigation into all culture-confirmed cases of TB in domestic animals other than cattle, APHA seeks to identify the various ways that those animals could have become infected. No further investigations are planned.