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Well I promised to keep you updated on the Wildlife and Environment Bill, but was off work yesterday. So for those who didn't catch it elsewhere, this confirms that our MLAs banned hare coursing, but didn't give the animal extra protection.

For those asking about him Jim Shannon did indeed make a number of lengthy contributions to the debate, which can be read in full in For a taster, here's his thoughts on eradicating grey squirrels: "when Sammy Wilson was the Minister of the Environment, I tabled a couple of questions to see what he was going to do to eradicate the grey squirrels at Parliament Buildings and on the Stormont estate. There are a number of grey squirrels about, and I know people who are very keen to keep the numbers under control, but, at that time, the Minister was unwilling to give his permission for that to be done. The reason why we do it, going back to what Jim Wells said earlier, is that the red squirrel is the native species and the grey squirrel is causing a lot of hassle and disturbing the number of red squirrels."

So Jim knows some people who were very keen to take a pop at Stormont's squirrels, but Sammy saved them.

So far as snaring is concerned attempts to completely ban the practice failed. Instead the bill will regulate the use of such traps.

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