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Parliamentary Questions and Answers
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Question 166 - Answered on 10th December, 2004
Trevor Sargent: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will report on the criteria and methods used in licensing the taking of frogs from the wild to be used in vivisection; and if he will revoke this licence. Ref No: 29380/04 REPLY Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Mr Dick Roche): The common frog is protected under wildlife legislation and may not be taken from the wild without a licence from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, of my Department. Each year the NPWS receives a small number of applications for licences to allow the capture of live frogs and these are adjudicated individually. So far this year, three licences have been issued for the capture of the common frog alive from the wild. Two were for the purpose of relocating frogs away from a new road building project and the other is an annual licence which authorises the applicant to capture specimens of rana temporaria - European common frog - by hand from a number of specified counties for the purposes of research. My Department does not license vivisection. The use of live animals in experiments in Ireland is, I understand, strictly controlled by the Department of Health and Children, which issues licences under the Cruelty to Animals Act, as amended by the European Communities (Amendment of Cruelty to Animals Act 1876) Regulations 2002.
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