DAERA to ‘strengthen’ dog hunting bill

Officials from DAERA have offered to “strengthen” a private members bill from Alliance MLA John Blair which seeks to ban hunting with dogs in NI.

An argument regularly put forward by opponents of the bill is that it a dog walker could be liable under the proposed legislation if their dog breaks away to purse a wild animal.

At Stormont last week, Mark Preston from DAERA said officials would work with Blair on drafting an amendment to address that issue.

“We wish to strengthen the actual provisions within the bill itself to try and take away that ambiguity […] so the person would not be held liable for walking their dog in the park,” he said.