FARMERS have called for a change to the 2004 Hunting Act. At the Royal Welsh Winter Fair in Builth Wells on Monday, where more than a third of Welsh hunts are represented, Wales' major farming organisations called for the Act to be amended in Wales. As the lambing season approaches, the Farmers Union of Wales, the National Sheep Association (NSA), the Country Land and Business Group Wales and NFU Cymru renewed concerns that the Hunting Act 2004 does not allow for effective pest control and is detrimental to sheep farming in Wales. NSA chief executive John Thorley said: "Sheep farmers in Wales have been put in a ridiculous situation: they cannot effectively protect their newborn lambs from foxes, they cannot use a terrier below ground to control foxes if it is to protect livestock, and farmers and hunts can use a maximum of only two dogs to flush a fox to a gun, which is simply ineffective. "To safeguard our flocks and the future of our farming, we need the law to be amended to allow the use of terriers below ground and allow a greater number of dogs to be used to flush foxes to guns." | 
