Commentary on Sections Section 2: Protection of game and rabbits
This section substitutes a new section 7A of the 1928 Act which deals with the protection of game and rabbits at certain times. It also makes consequential amendments to the Forestry Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 (c.2) (right of occupier to kill rabbits damaging trees / prevention of damage caused by rabbits, etc.), to the Ground Game Act 1880 (right of occupier to kill and take hares and rabbits) and to the Miscellaneous Transferred Excise Duties Act (Northern Ireland ) 1972 (game licences).
New section 7A(1) of the 1928 Act re-enacts the provision making it an offence to kill, take or destroy any game on Sundays or at night.
New section 7A(2) makes it an offence for rabbits to be shot on any land except by an authorised person, that is to say a person who is , or is authorised by , the owner or occupier of the land or the owner of shooting rights over the land ; but new section 7A(3) excepts from this offence persons acting in pursuance of a power under the Diseases of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 or the Forestry Act (Northern Ireland) 1953.
In Section 2, subsections (2), (3), (4), (5) make the necessary amendments to other legislation consequential on the relaxation of the law on the shooting of rabbits. Section 2(6) and the Schedule, repeal provisions of the existing law which are no longer necessary in view of that relaxation.