'Ridiculous' hunt ban row reignited
A LEADING rural body has renewed attacks on the "irrelevant, controversial and pointless" ban on hunting with dogs following the collapse of another prosecution under the controversial law.
Writing ahead of the new hunt season, Simon Hart, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said he hoped this would be the last year "we operate under this ridiculous law".
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Mr Hart's comments followed the collapse of a case brought against a Northumberland huntsman under the Hunting Act. Robert McCarthy, 35, of the Percy hunt, had been charged with illegally hunting a mammal.
South East Northumberland Magistrates Court heard evidence from two women who claimed to have witnessed Mr McCarthy and the Percy hounds hunting a fox on November 12 last year.
But District Judge Stephen Earl threw the case out at the end of last month, ruling there was insufficient evidence.
The Countryside Alliance condemned "yet another publicly funded fiasco that should never have happened".
It says hundreds of allegations of illegal hunting have been made by animal rights activists, leading to dozens of incidents being investigated and "wasting hundreds of hours of police time".
Staff and masters from nine different hunts have faced prosecution, the pressure group said. Five of those cases have failed and just three have led to convictions, while one case is pending.
In 2006, three men from the Devon and Somerset Staghounds were charged with offences under the Act. But the Crown Prosecution Service eventually admitted there was "no longer a realistic prospect of a conviction".
Writing on the Countryside Alliance website, Mr Hart said: "The Hunting Act is a pernicious law whose effects are entirely negative, and the collapse of Robert's case is hopefully another nail in its coffin. The only answer is to repeal the Hunting Act so that no-one ever has to go through the stress that Robert has had to go through.
"Everyone, from the policemen tasked with investigating hunting allegations to the judges who have to try and interpret it, would be better off without it. Repeal of the Hunting Act would be a public service."
An incoming Tory government has said it would allow a debate in Parliament on the possibility of a repeal of the law, with MPs able to vote how they wished.
Some opposition politicians, including top Tory William Hague, have gone as far as to call it a "bad law" that is "deeply prejudiced" and "ridiculously unworkable".
Mr Hart thinks the next year could be pivotal, saying "an extraordinary 12 months lie ahead".
He said: "In the last five years we have made the case for repeal and by this time next year Parliament may have had the opportunity to rule on it. There is every chance this will be the last season we have to operate under this ridiculous law."
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by dave, cornwall
Friday, September 04 2009, 3:26PM
“Mr jones I wonder if you will be as ineffective as your friends, or the hunting act itself.
We look forward to your visit to the moors, mind you dont get lost this time though.”
by Nick Singer, Maidstone
Thursday, September 03 2009, 7:24PM
“The hunting ban was a political act, driven by spite, prejudice and bigotry and supported by ignorance and a refusal to look at FACTS.
Not one fox has has had a better life (or death) since the ban - in fact I'd guess more slink away to die slowly after being winged by someone with a gun.
Hunting doesn't wound, doesn't leave animals to suffer and always took the old and the sick first.
Basil Brush ain't a real fox folks!”
by Reg, Portugal
Thursday, September 03 2009, 7:02PM
“Steve, Penzance - and I would bet that all Judges are either huntsmen or Masters of Hunt themselves! This old nugget will continue as long as their are cruel huntsmen/women and foxes to be hunted. We agree that they do serious damage to pets, chickens, sheep etc but there are more humane ways to control the vermin and they should be used. They shoot horses don't they?!”
by Sasha, Truro
Thursday, September 03 2009, 9:57AM
“Seriously guys are you in the playground?? GROW UP!!!”
by Steve, PZ
Thursday, September 03 2009, 9:01AM
“I would suggest nobody take up daves idea of of taking huntsmen on to the moors and murdering them. Just because you don't agree with hunting does not give you the right to kill people. And I am sure a judge would agree.”
by Allan Clarke, Brasil
Thursday, September 03 2009, 1:57AM
“Yes, i agree enough comments ,but so much passion shown on the animal front.However i look forward to the response for a news item worth while. Tally ho.”
by Charles Henry 1945-(diuturnity), Somersetshire
Wednesday, September 02 2009, 9:25PM
“:) You are really making me smile now Theo. . Chicken-wire that will keep out foxes! . . Wow! . . That was really some chicken- wire. . Especially with all those hundreds of hens that foxy woxy wanted to get his teeth into! . . . But I believe you Theo!! . . :) Really I do!”
by Theo H (Red, Green and Irish), Lifton
Wednesday, September 02 2009, 8:20PM
“I posted that my dad had a chicken farm and he never lost a hen to a fox.
@ B Jenkins
You said this lack of fox kill was due to hunting of foxes.
My dad thought hunting to elieinate foxes was tosh. He had chicken wire.
And great grand dad was master of the Meath Hounds. Not all that posh, but that's because it was an Irish hunt.
But at least it is the hunt of poetry. When, in "1916 A Terrible Beauty Is Born"*, W B Yeats has the line "... and she rode to hounds with Markovich". That was the Meath Hounds.
* On the 1916 rebels, who took over the centre of Dublin and statrted what became, at last, an independent Ireland.”
by B Jenkins, Truro
Wednesday, September 02 2009, 7:43PM
“Justine the logic is in controlling the fox population at no cost to the tax payer. Unless you have kept hens, and suffered a fox attack you may never understand. You might carry a gun for a month and not see a fox, hunting works!
Most people have no little idea of what you mean when you say Common Purpose, or neuro linguistic programing.
Do you not see CP in the Brave New World being foist upon us now?
Banning hunting is a part of this as is immigration, read the Marxist manifesto. Too many people are being manipulated fundamentally changing our society.”
by The Public, Cornwall
Wednesday, September 02 2009, 4:40PM
“We seem to be over-run with Parliamentary Candidates at the moment, what do they think?”