Salisbury Plains Licence 'Trail Hunting'

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Dear Ministry of Defence Police,

In relation to the hunting on Salisbury Plains, for each licensee, (The Royal Artillery Hunt, The Tedworth Hunt, Wiltshire Infantry Beagles and Palmer Marlborough Beagles), please will you provide, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) for each licensee:

1. Copy of each license for 2021/2022 Season, supporting maps and dates showing hunt name for 2021/2022.

2. Following conviction of Mark Hankinson Director of Hunting Office and Judge Tan Ikram stating the ‘Mirage of trail laying’ (other land owners now stopping trail hunting), what are you doing to protect use of our land? Also please confirm Phil Davies Countryside Alliance Police Liaison Office who was also complicit with sharing how to avoid prosecution on the webinair is not on any of your groups, he has been removed from other forces.

3. Scent has to be laid as a trail, please share ingredient details of the chemical or animal based formula (important for protection/welfare of flora or fauna as SSSI site) and origin of substance for each hunt and volume used per day. what evidence do you have a trail is laid? Do you receive details of the route prior to commencement, if not why not?

4. What is the approach for hunting on SSSI areas and how is the area protected from both harmful impact from ‘the scent’ and pack of hounds (including nesting/breeding times), as hounds have been uncontrolled, (FOI revealed – no. 8 below where a mammal was torn apart during a hunt and another FOI January 2021 shared 5 mammals killed in 5 years).

5. How have MOD monitored hunting activities to ensure compliance with the licence and the Hunting Act and other relevant legislation, both correct area and no illegal hunting, including dates and any actions/advice given? What complaints or notified breaches of the terms of the license have been received since September 2020? If none, what constitutes a complaint as I have provided on several occasions.

6. What are the license regulations related to hunt support vehicles driving off byeways and action taken when terms violated?

7. Details of when the Licensee has contacted the DIO Local Office to inform nil returns for mammal kills recording for each fixture, any incident resulting in a wild mammal being killed or disturbance, including the timing of this notification in relation to the incident.

8. For The Royal Artillery hunt breach of licence for the killing of a rabbit on 31st October (shared through former FOI), not reported in the designated 48 hours licence terms, but 7 days later on 7th November 2020 after evidence was provided to MOD, what process was followed to address this licence breach and also that a 2018/2019 Notification of Mammal Kill Form was used and not the 2020/2021 version?

9. Details of training provided to MOD Police and MOD Monitors/Safety Marshalls for detection of illegal hunting and any public awareness communications (as Cumbria Police have) on detection of and reporting of illegal fox hunting.

Whilst some of these are repeat questions from 20 December 2020, FOI 2020/13911 21 January 2021 advised ‘certain documents that relate to this request are held in hardcopy in MOD offices, and due to current circumstances related to the Covid-19 pandemic, MOD personnel are unable to access them at present’ and now I believe there will be no restriction.

Yours faithfully,
Rachel K

DIO Sec-Parli (MULTIUSER), Ministry of Defence Police

Dear Ms Kent,

Your request has been logged under our reference 2021/13272 and the target date for response is 29/11/2021.

Yours sincerely

DIO Secretariat

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DIO Sec-Parli (MULTIUSER), Ministry of Defence Police

10 Attachments

Dear Ms Kent,

 

Please see attached response to FOI13272.

 

Kind regards

 

DIO Secretariat