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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of hares shot during the period when sale is prohibited under the Hares Preservation Act 1892 in the latest period for which data is available.

Defra holds no official statistics on the number of hares shot in England. The Act aims to protect hares by prohibiting the sale of hares in England from March to July inclusive.