LAWS COVERING 'livestock worrying' offences should be extended to include incidents where enclosed gamebirds are disturbed by dogs.

The British Association for Shooting and Conservation has backed the Scottish Parliament's Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill, introduced by Emma Harper MSP , which seeks to introduce tougher penalties for livestock worrying as well as extending the offence to include a more up-to-date list of species that are farmed.

BASC political and press officer in Scotland, Ross Ewing, said: “Following consultation with members, BASC’s submission of evidence to the Scottish Parliament is fully supportive of extending the offence of livestock worrying to include enclosed gamebirds. Our submission contains a raft of practitioner evidence of enclosed gamebird worrying by dogs – tougher penalties are required to tackle this unacceptable behaviour."

However, the shooting body was less keen on the provision within the bill that would empower Ministers to appoint inspecting bodies other than the police to take a hand in enforcing livestock protection.

“BASC does not support the appointment of inspecting bodies other than the police to investigate or enforce incidences of worrying," it stated. "There remain concerns about the partiality of certain bodies, some of which have expressed biased views about legitimate and legal practices associated with gamekeeping in the past. We are unconvinced that an incident of gamebird worrying, for example, would be investigated objectively.”