hunting ban

In the runup to the May 7 elections in Britain, foxhunting and the Hunting Act that outlawed traditional hunting there in 2005 are once again subjects for polarized wrangling in the British media. While issues of greater import confront the nation as a whole, foxhunting remains a burning issue in rural areas. For many in those locales, their way of life was drastically altered by the nation’s voters, the majority (95%) of whom live in urban settings and were unaffected by the consequences of their vote. Although the ban was successfully pushed through by a vocal minority of animal rights activists and anti-toff sentiment, to the majority of urban dwellers, foxhunting is far down on their list of crucial issues and easy to quickly dismiss as frivolous. Once again, as he did in the runup to the last election, Prime Minister David Cameron declared last week that the countryside would not be forgotten. Cameron never fulfilled his initial campaign promise during the current session of Parliament because he and his pro-hunting supporters knew they didn’t have the votes to prevail. And once again, foes of hunting, noting the renewed rhetoric of the pro-hunting faction, have pledged through their sympathetic media channels that repeal will never happen. Click for more details in “WMN OPINION,” published by Western Morning News. Posted January, 12, 2015

  A British defense solicitor has called for an end to the hunting ban in England because too many prosecutions are thrown out for lack of evidence. Passion, yes, he says. Evidence, no. A Master and huntsman from the Weston and Barnwell Harriers and his whipper-in were recently acquitted in court of charges leveled by the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS). The League presented a video that their Chief Executive Joe Duckworth said, “Clearly shows evidence of illegal foxhunting.” The judge, however, said the ninety-seconds of footage showed drag hunting, using a cloth soaked in fox urine, and the hounds were stopped before reaching a live fox. The exonerated Master and huntsman, George Milton, has been unsuccessfully accused four times in a period of only twelve months by LACS. He has suffered through two trials costing in the six figures. Milton’s defence solicitor, Jamie Foster, sees the case as another blow for the League Against Cruel Sports. In an OpEd piece in the Western Morning News, Foster writes, “While I have nothing against anyone’s deeply held beliefs, the criminal court is not the place for those beliefs to be relied upon. A court demands cogent evidence, and, yet again, [LACS] was unable to provide it. “In the end, justice was done but at a considerable cost. The League must have spent in excess of £100,000 of charitable donations on the case. The police, the CPS and the court all had to commit public money to it and the taxpayer faces a hefty bill for the legal costs run up by George and Toby in their defence. It is impossible to see how any of this expense can possibly be justified by a case in which a fox, two minutes ahead of the hounds was pursued for less than the length of a single field and would never have been aware of the existence of its pursuers. Surely it is time to repeal this legislation and allow the League to go back to waving placards and gnashing their teeth freeing up the criminal courts to deal with matters that really are in the public interest to prosecute.” Posted May 15, 2014  

Speculation about any near-term relaxation of the hunting ban in England has been laid to rest. The BBC reports that British Prime Minister David Cameron informed the House of Commons that there will be no change to the Hunting Act as passed in 2004. Expressing regret, Cameron said that coalition ministers had failed to reach agreement. In the days leading up to that announcement, Conservative MPs warned Cameron that his plan, in concert with Environment Secretary Owen Patterson, would fail. (See earlier FHL report, “British PM Has New Plan to Ease Hunting Ban.”) Under the ban, in cases where the landowner wants foxes killed, no more than two foxhounds may be used to flush a fox to a gun. Cameron and Paterson proposed to amend that restriction, through a parliamentary device known as a statutory instrument, to allow up to forty hounds to flush a fox to a gun. The proposed amendment was a response to complaints by Welsh sheep farmers of fox depredation on their flocks. Critics argued, however, that it was a “back door” attempt to reintroduce foxhunting. Cameron and Paterson were unable to garner sufficient votes, even within their own party, to bring the matter to a vote. Click for more details of the doomed proposal as reported in The Guardian. The plight of the countryside was well-expressed in the Mid Devon Gazette: “If you put the politics, the prejudice and the class warfare aside and focus on the practicalities of fox control in an efficient and humane way, the case for changing the rules on hunting are difficult to challenge. “In essence farmers, particularly in upland areas of Wales where fox predation of lambs is a serious issue, wanted to be allowed to use a full pack of hounds to flush a fox from cover. They argue using just two, as the Hunting Act allows, doesn’t work in many cases. “The proposal has been scuppered, not because the vast majority against the measure have studied the facts but because they had long since made up their minds on this issue. “The sad conclusion to this modest attempt to help farmers and sensibly amend a flawed piece of legislation – which would also bring the whole of the UK in line [Scotland allows what England is trying to achieve. -Ed.] – is that it is impossible to discard the baggage and talk sensibly about animal welfare, cruelty and efficient countryside management. That is a great shame and does a disservice to wildlife and to farmers.” Posted March 28, 2014Updated March 29, 2014

The Countryside Alliance believes that there would be sufficient votes in Commons to overturn the hunting ban, but for the votes of the Scottish Labour MPs. The government is being urged to reform the system which gives Scottish MPs veto rights on legislation that has no impact in Scotland. Tim Bonner of the Countryside Alliance said, “[T]here are a lot of people in the Westcountry who simply cannot understand why the Hunting Act cannot be repealed when a majority of English and Welsh MPs support getting rid of it. “MPs from the Westcountry have no say on hunting laws in Scotland, so why should Scottish MPs hold a veto over repealing the pointless and wasteful Hunting Act in England and Wales? “The continuing interference of Scottish Labour MPs also underlines the fact that the Hunting Act has nothing to do with animal welfare or wildlife management, but is a prejudiced, political attack on the hunting community.” The Countryside Alliance predicts that a vote in Commons to overturn the ban would prevail by thirty to forty votes if taken only by English and Welsh MPs. Click for more details in This Is Cornwall. Posted January 15, 2013

Boxing Day, traditionally the best-attended day of the hunting season in England, will bring large fields and throngs of hunt supporters to the meets, but no solace in their dreams of repealing the despised Hunting Act of 2005. Prime Minister David Cameron’s campaign pledge to bring the matter to a vote in Parliament notwithstanding, such a move is not in the offing according to Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, a hunt supporter himself. The Huffington Post, UK quotes the cabinet minister as saying, “There’s only a point having a vote if you’re going to win.” A recent poll found, in fact, that seventy-six percent of the population are against legalizing foxhunting, despite a concerted pro-hunting campaign by the Countryside Alliance. With nearly all hunts planning to ride on Boxing Day, The Telegraph estimates that more than one million people will attend at least three hundred meets. As a comparison, there are more than twice the number of hunts in England as in the U.S. According to The Guardian, the Countryside Alliance reports more hunt followers today than in 2005 when the ban became law, as well as an increased sense of support from local countryside communities. One third of all hunts claim to have more members and supporters than before the ban, and the great majority of hunts are hunting just as much. Barney White-Spunner, executive chairman of the Countryside Alliance, said, “The Hunting Act was an attack on rural people rather than an attempt to improve animal welfare, which is why it has failed so spectacularly.” He said that in the uplands the Hunting Act has made it nearly impossible for farmers to control the fox population and protect their livestock. Meanwhile, the League Against Cruel Sports has pledged to intensify its campaign against illegal hunting by recruiting more hunt monitors—many of them ex-police officers. Posted December 26, 2012

The British government is expected to introduce a new hunting bill in Parliament that would abolish hare coursing and stag hunting. The hunting of fox with hounds would be allowed in parts of England and Wales under a licensing system. Once the bill is introduced and the content is known, it will surely provoke controversy. FHL will report on this story as it develops. Posted June 5, 2012

While Boxing Day—the day after Christmas—passes largely unnoticed in the U.S., it traditionally draws large number of riders and spectators at foxhunting meets in England. According to The Daily Mail, a quarter of a million hunt supporters turned out for meets all across the country. Now a bank holiday in England, Boxing Day is thought to derive its name from the boxing and giving of gifts by wealthy folks to their servants after enjoying their own holiday on Christmas Day. The servants would have the following day off to visit their own families and bring boxes of gifts and probably leftover food. Since the foxhunting ban was passed in England, Boxing Day crowds annually refocus attention on the sport, eliciting statements in the press supporting and condemning both sides of the issue. Before forming his government, Prime Minister David Cameron promised a free vote in Parliament on a repeal of the hunting ban. However, as we have reported, because the outcome of the vote is uncertain at this time, there hasn’t been great pressure to bring the matter to the floor. Posted December 30, 2011

A new generation of urban Tory has upset the countryside’s applecart. Notwithstanding Prime Minister David Cameron’s pre-election pledge to allow a free vote in Parliament on the hunting ban, twenty members of his party are opposed to revisiting the ban. Calling themselves the Blue Fox group, they comprise a younger set of MPs who are conservative on economics but liberal on social issues. They insist that the Tory party should no longer be identified with “the hunting, shooting and fishing fraternity” and characterize Cameron’s pledge as “dead and buried.” Privately, some MPs of a more traditional view are also reluctant to insist upon a vote. They take the view that the ban as passed in 2004 is so unworkable and full of holes that hunting with hounds is proceeding without much police interference anyway. See Brenda Carlin’s article in the Mail for more details. Posted August 15, 2011