The British MFHA has recommended that all hunts record evidence of their hunting activities to document that they are hunting within the law. The MFHA’s message comes as the result of recent successful prosecutions by authorities and stepped up efforts against hunting by the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS).

Three members of the Crawley and Horsham were convicted of offenses contrary to the Hunting Act, and LACS now has ten “investigation officers” tasked to work in pairs around the country seeking actionable offenses. Recently, fifty-two summonses have been levied against the Heythrop by the RSPCA.

MFHA Chairman Stephen Lambert warned hunts that the RSPCA has “adopted a scattergun approach…that could snowball unless hunts diligently keep daily records to demonstrate their legal activity with hounds.”

Lambert also warned that covert cameramen are at work in most of the hunting countries, and that photographic surveillance is expected to increase in the coming season.

Putting a positive spin on the situation during his remarks at the recent AGM, Lambert said that the all-out effort mounted by the opposition gives foxhunters the opportunity to demonstrate that the Hunting Ban is a ridiculous law.

Read further details in Flora Watkins’ article in Horse and Hound.

Posted June 19,2012