Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 December 2004
166 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will report on the criteria and methods used in licensing the taking of frogs from the wild to be used in vivisection; and if he will revoke this licence. [29380/04]
View answerThe common frog is protected under wildlife legislation and may not be taken from the wild without a licence from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, of my Department. Each year the NPWS receives a small number of applications for licences to allow the capture of live frogs and these are adjudicated individually.
So far this year, three licences have been issued for the capture of the common frog alive from the wild. Two were for the purpose of relocating frogs away from a new road building project and the other is an annual licence which authorises the applicant to capture specimens of rana temporaria— European common frog — by hand from a number of specified counties for the purposes of research. My Department does not license vivisection. The use of live animals in experiments in Ireland is, I understand, strictly controlled by the Department of Health and Children, which issues licences under the Cruelty to Animals Act, as amended by the European Communities (Amendment of Cruelty to Animals Act 1876) Regulations 2002.
167 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will consider the threat of myopathy for the hare species, which is a stress induced condition; and if he will end licences for hare coursing to minimise the threat. [29372/04]
View answerUnder section 34 of the Wildlife Act 1976, my Department is responsible for the issue of an annual licence to the Irish Coursing Club and its affiliated clubs to capture live hares for the purpose of coursing. There is no evidence to date that hare coursing in Ireland adversely impacts on the conservation of hare populations and there are no proposals to change existing arrangements for the licensed netting of wild hares for live hare coursing.
In the case of the coursing meeting last season in which the mortality was exceptionally high, the possibility of stress, myopathy, as a constructive factor was considered by the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department. While it was not possible to establish why, in this particular case, the hares should have been particularly vulnerable, my Department regarded this level of mortality as a serious matter. Accordingly, the club in question will, this year, be holding a scaled down event, closely monitored by my Department to ensure that its management regime does not increase the risk of myopathy.
