Vol. 558 No. 5
134 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his Department's monitoring report found that the physiological stress of hunting led to the death of one deer in the 2001/02 season of the Ward Union hunt; when and the location this occurred; and the details of all the circumstances involved in the death of this deer. [25144/02]
My Department's monitoring of the welfare of deer hunted by the Ward Union hunt club is carried out on a spot check basis, at the request of the Minister for Environment and Local Government for the purpose of checking com pliance with the self-regulating hunting code of practice as drawn up by that Department.
One of the findings in the report for the 2001-02 season is that a veterinary post mortem examination found that a re-captured deer died due to a ruptured aneurism. Aneurism is a dilation of a blood vessel following weakening of its walls. The result is a pulsating sac, which is liable to rupture at any time although it may remain intact and be discovered only after death. The condition is not detectable prior to hunting. Aneurism may result from a congenital weakness of the blood vessel or from disease of its lining cells, etc. When an aneurism is present there is potential for it to rupture either spontaneously or during or after exercise.
