Hunting: Could this be the last season under a ban?

At 10am tomorrow morning about 40 foxhounds and 20 foxhunters will be gathering in the autumn mists near Blencathra.

And a smaller, equally dedicated band of their opponents will also be there.

Although hunting with dogs has been banned for almost five years now, it hasn’t stopped the hunting fraternity in Cumbria – or the hunt saboteurs.

Since the ban, introduced in February 2005, huntsmen are supposed to engage in drag hunting, in which they follow a specially laid fox scent rather than pursuing and killing a real fox.

But the saboteurs believe many hunts are breaking the law by carrying on killing foxes regardless.

And the huntsmen are hoping that by this time next year they will be able to do so legally again.

David Cameron has promised that if the Conservatives win the next election he will make parliamentary time for a free vote among MPs to reverse the Hunting Act. So if Mr Cameron – a huntsman himself – moves into Downing Street next year, then this could be the last hunting season under the ban.

It will not necessarily be an easy issue for an incoming Cameron government to get through, any more than it was easy for Tony Blair’s government.

The ban was highly controversial when it was introduced – and reversing it will inevitably prove equally controversial.

ANTI-HUNTING: Elaine Milbourn has lived all her life in the Cumbrian countryside and has been an ardent anti-hunting campaigner for the past 25 years.Hunt saboteurs have been keeping tabs on the huntsmen at Blencathra for many years. For they are convinced foxes are still being killed there.

So she rejects the argument that the ban is an attack by the city on the countryside.

“I was born and brought up in the Eden valley and I now live in Torpenhow, so to say it is anti-countryside is nonsense,” Elaine says. “Most people in the countryside are opposed to hunting.”

Elaine is a local volunteer with animal welfare group Protect Our Wild Animals (POWA) and sees the 2005 hunting ban as only one measure needed to prevent the killing of animals for sport.

She accepts that it has led to few convictions but believes that is no reason to scrap it.

“There are laws against theft, murder and rape but these crimes still go on,” she says. “You don’t repeal a law just because people are getting away with it.

“It’s not that it’s not working. It’s that people are not allowing it to work.”

However Elaine does believes the law would be more effective if it was stricter, and wants to see it strengthened by adding a “recklessness clause”.

“The clause should be added to prevent hunts searching in areas where they know they will find foxes, such as hedges, woods and bracken.

“If a trail has been laid for drag hunting, then they don’t have to go near these places.”

And she adds: “Major landowners should also be taking a firmer stance. It is no good having rules that say hunts are only allowed to drag hunt if they do nothing about it when reports of illegal hunting are made.”

Some farmers argue that foxes kill poultry and lambs and so need to be controlled, but Elaine rejects this.

“Fewer than five per cent of the lambs who die are killed by foxes. Far more are killed by dogs.

“I had poultry for many years and none of them were ever killed by foxes.”

Moreover foxes are natural pest controllers themselves.

“They kill rats and rabbits and mice that farmers don’t want.”

And she says that, for her, the social class of foxhunters doesn’t enter the argument.

“I don’t care whether they are princes or paupers.

“If they can’t see anything wrong with ripping a wild animal to shreds with a pack of dogs for fun, then there is something wrong with them.”

“I saw one killed the day after the ban,” said one sab, who asked not to be named. “When they see us they often move on.

“If they had laid a trail for drag hunting they wouldn’t move, would they?”

Techniques the sabs use include calling out to the foxhounds, so that they believe they are being alerted to a fox, and disguising fox scents with sprays.

“A high-pitched yell often attracts them,” he says. “We always use non-harmful sprays. Garlic works a treat.”

Now the bullshit

PRO HUNTING: The Countryside Alliance was set up in 1997 to fight the proposals for a hunting ban. Since the introduction of the ban it has been focusing its efforts on getting it reversed.

According to Steve Clark, its director in the north of England, many people living in rural areas did not see the ban as an animal welfare issue.

Foxhunting is a traditional activity that has gone on for centuries – so country dwellers regarded it more as an assault on the countryside by the city.

“One of the problems is that we have a very urban parliament – most Labour MPs represent urban constituencies,” he says.

“People in the countryside, whether they were pro-hunting or indifferent to it, felt their whole way of life was under attack.”

The depth of feeling was something that took Steve by surprise.

“I know of one landowner who never used to want the huntsmen on his land.

“But after the ban he said: ‘You can come any time you want. These people aren’t going to tell me what I can or can’t do on my property.’”

The ban on hunting, he adds, has not just opened up divisions between town and country, but has created suspicion and division within the countryside itself.

“All of a sudden the village copper may not be your friend any more.

“A decisive move by an incoming Tory government to repeal the Hunting Act would go a long way to healing those divisions.”

The Hunting Act allows drag hunting and also allows hounds to flush out a fox so it can be shot, and so for many the precise legal position can be highly confusing.

“Before the ban a lot of people were thinking: ‘How on earth are we going to carry on under a ban? But it is a very badly drafted and very confusing piece of legislation.”

And though it has brought many people before the courts, it has led to very few successful prosecutions.

“The stress of having a court case hanging over your head is a horrifying experience for a right-thinking individual.

“But there have only been three successful prosecutions under the Hunting Act, and they were all among people who pleaded guilty.

“The legislation has been so confusing that it gives the hunting community a sense of hope that it will one day be repealed. It is inevitable.”

Foxhunting is seen, whether rightly or not, as an upper-class pursuit and Steve says this was at the root of much Labour opposition to it.

“Parliament spent 780 hours on banning hunting. It only spent seven hours debating whether we should go to war with Iraq.

“For a lot of Labour MPs it was a class issue. One of them even admitted: ‘This is going to get you back for the miners.’”

And if the Conservatives do win next year’s general election – and David Cameron keeps his promise – then Steve is hopeful that the ban could be reversed within the first six months.

“We hope any incoming Tory government will provide parliamentary time to get rid of a bad law. We hope this will be the last season of the ban.”

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/features/hunting_could_this_be_the_last_season_under_a_ban_1_631137?referrerPath=features

Wildlife crime: Britain’s killing fields

They call us a nation of animal lovers, yet attacks on creatures in their natural habitats have more than doubled in a year

Crimes against wildlife, including badger baiting with dogs, hare coursing, poisoning of protected birds and even trapping them to sell as caged pets have soared to unprecedented heights. New figures from the police show that the number of wildlife crimes more than doubled in the last year, from 2,177 to 5,854.

Incidents are now being recorded at a rate of 120 a week. They cover not only the slaughtering of badgers and rare birds of prey, but also egg thefts, bird trapping, deer poaching and habitat destruction. Rural areas are where most incidents occur, with Northumbria a conspicuous target for wildlife criminals. More than 500 incidents have been recorded there, with Grampian (244), Humberside (195), and North Wales (188) also wildlife crime hotspots.

What make the statistics even more remarkable is that they do not include crimes against domestic and farm animals. In 2008, the RSPCA investigated 140,000 cases of animal cruelty in England and Wales, a steep rise from the 2003 figure of 105,000. The charity has seen dog fighting rise tenfold since 2004, with nearly 300 incidents last year. Airgun attacks on animals and rustling of sheep and cattle also appear to be on the rise.

One of the sharpest rises has been in what police call “badger persecution”, a term that includes badgers being dug out of their setts, pitted against terrier dogs in fights, and being shot by farmers, landowners or their agents. Between February and July this year, the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) recorded 241 incidents of badger persecution – a total that in just six months almost exceeded the 280 reported incidents in 2008.

Criminals are travelling hundreds of miles to baiting “events”, according to Ian Hutchison, a species protection officer for Scottish Badgers. “Badger baiting is taking place throughout the country. It used to be an urban myth that badger baiters would travel all over the countryside. Well, it’s not an urban myth any more – they are travelling far and wide to commit offences,” he said.

People are betting on the outcomes of fights, he added, and live badgers can fetch a high price. “We have been told that in the Liverpool area, a live badger is worth £1,000 so that it can be fought with a dog.”

Mike Butcher, chief inspector of the RSPCA special operations unit, said: “Digging badgers out is very common, and there is a rise in the calls about badgers that we are getting.”

Police now plan a major crackdown, Operation Meles, against the resurgence in badger persecution that they say is being driven, in part, by the perceived threat to livestock from bovine tuberculosis. Another police project, Operation Galileo, against hare coursing, was launched by police in Lincolnshire last month. Between September 2008 and March 2009 there were more than 900 reports of hare coursing to the local force.

The rural crimewave is threatening the very survival of some species. Crimes against bats have increased by 10 per cent a year since 2007, and the loss of one roost can be a severe blow to populations that are already vulnerable, according to the Bat Conservation Trust. Last year, the RSPB received 1,206 reports of shooting, poisoning, trapping and disturbance of birds and their eggs – the second highest they have ever recorded.

The theft of wild flowers is also taking its toll on Britain’s biodiversity. In May this year, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust had to issue a warning to visitors to its nature reserve near Sapperton after a spate of bluebell thefts.

Detective Inspector Brian Stuart, head of the NWCU, said: “There is an increase in wildlife crime in general. We are seeking to use wider policing powers, such as the Proceeds of Crime Act, to target criminals where it hurts them most – in their pocket.”

Dr Mark Avery, the RSPB’s conservation director, said: “There is far too much wildlife crime going on in the countryside. The scale of it is unacceptable in the modern age.”

He added: “The hen harrier is pretty close to being extinct in England, in large part down to wildlife crime.”

But conservationists, including the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts, are calling for a radical shake-up of wildlife policing, and claim that an inconsistent response to crime by police means criminals are able to break the law with little fear of being caught. The NWCU has seen its staff slashed from 14 to nine since it was set up three years ago, and there were just 51 convictions in 2008-09 – accounting for just 3 per cent of the cases dealt with.

Huw Irranca-Davies, a Defra minister, said that a government review into the way wildlife crime is being tackled is currently under way and will report in spring 2010.

A breakdown of the latest figures from the NWCU shows that Northumbria is Britain’s wildlife crime capital, with 525 incidents, including the highest number of shootings of wildlife, according to the statistics from the latest tactical assessment for the period between February and July 2009. Humberside came top for poaching – with 119 incidents – and the Grampian region had the highest number of reports of wildlife being trapped or snared, as well as being a centre, along with Tayside and Lancashire, for crimes against birds of prey.

North Wales had the most cases of badger persecution and habitat destruction. In terms of bats being killed or their roosts destroyed, Gwent had the highest number of incidents. Hare coursing was greatest in Lincolnshire, and fox-hunting incidents were most commonly reported in Devon and Cornwall. The greatest concentration of birds’ nests being destroyed was in Northern Ireland.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/wildlife-crime-britains-killing-fields-1812915.html

Would David Cameron approve of this?

On Saturday 31st October, two Hunt saboteurs were the victim of a premeditated and unprovoked attack resulting in one needing hospital treatment for severe facial cuts and bruising and a suspected broken nose, during the attack the saboteurs were also threatened with a clasp knife.

The attack took place at a public car park on the South Downs Way slightly south of Firle, East Sussex, the car park is usually the haunt of members of the public using the footpaths to enjoy the countryside or for hang gliding off the step hillside.

On this Saturday members of the South Down and Eridge Fox hunt met at Firle Place and proceeded onto the downs. As is usual members of the Hunt Saboteurs were present to monitor the hunt to ensure there were no breaches of the Hunting Act which has made the hunting of foxes illegal. No false scent drags were in evidence but Hunt saboteurs became suspicious as an official of the hunt started to act in a strange manner and seemed to be trying to keep them in one location.

While this was taking place the driver of the group’s vehicle and his passenger noticed that other hunt supporters had suddenly left the car park they were waiting in. Within minutes two land rovers and a quad bike arrived, containing about ten hunt supporters some known to the saboteurs, blocking the movement of the group’s vehicle and an unprovoked attack was launched on the two saboteurs.

The driver while attempting to regain access to his vehicle had the door slammed on his head and was then repeatedly punched in the face causing the severe facial cuts and bruising and a suspected broken nose. He was then threatened with a clasp knife and was told repeatedly that he would be stabbed. His female companion was knocked to the ground and attempts were made to steal her mobile phone.

Managing to break free the two regained their vehicle and were chased by the three vehicles for a distance. The police were informed of the violent attack and later that day one man was arrested.

Lee Moon, spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association stated:  “David Cameron is happy to sing the praises of the hunting community and has promised to repeal the Hunting Act if the Tories win the General Election.  We would like to know if he approves of this callous, unprovoked and vicious attack by ten hunt supporters on two innocent people which could easily have resulted in serious and permanent injury.  Violence is a way of life for these people whether it is directed towards animals or people.”

http://hsa.enviroweb.org/index.php/news/latest/198-hsa-news-release-31st-october-2009

Back the ban

The ban on fox-hunting – that Labour Party members from across the country worked so hard to achieve – is under threat.

Yesterday, at a time when our Labour Government is focused on tackling the recession and securing our economic recovery, the Tory spokesman on Animal Welfare re-affirmed that the Tory Party, if elected, would set aside Government time for a vote to repeal the ban.

And make no mistake – David Cameron and members of his top team have made it very clear that their intention is to see the return of the cruel spectacle of foxes being torn to pieces in Britain’s countryside.

So I need your help. Please sign up now to Back the Ban.

We need to make sure that as many people as possible know that a consequence of voting for the Conservatives at the next election will be an end to the ban on fox-hunting with dogs.

I’m going to be campaigning alongside animal welfare organisations on this in the coming weeks and months and it will help a lot to know if you’ll support our campaign.

Sign up now to pledge your support for my campaign.

Once you’ve signed up I’ll be in touch by email next week to let you know exactly how you can help.

Together we can make sure that as many people as possible know that a Conservative Government would mean an end to the ban so many people worked so hard to introduce.

Thank you

Hilary Benn

Hunting’s reply no surprise

So, the hunting fraternity are incensed by the cruelty-free chain Lush lending their support to the Hunt Saboteurs Association.

And how do the hunting fraternity respond? As always with intimidation. Some of the shops throughout the UK had displays of anti-hunting posters and leaflets knocked down, members of staff verbally abused and front of shop windows smashed. This comes as no surprise to those of us go out week-in and week-out against the hunts.

Before the season started the Countryside Alliance warned their supporters to remain calm in the face of provocation, as they think the Conservatives are going to gain power, and they are in sniffing distance of the Hunting Act being repealed.

Well, it seems they are well off message. Up here in Cumbria more people are wanting to come out and join us up in the hills, as they feel the democratic system as let them down, by allowing the hunts to flout the law.

So as long as they try to make the act unworkable, we will be out with video cameras, and also ready to intervene on behalf of the hunted animal, if need be.

ANDREW
Cumbrian Hunt Saboteurs

http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/opinion/letters/hunting_s_reply_no_surprise_1_628095?referrerPath=/1.96082

Woman bred illegal fighting dogs in home

A jobless woman bred illegal fighting dogs in her Wolverhampton home and sold them for up to £300 each, a court heard.

The pitbull terrier dogs were found when police swooped on the house in a drugs raid.

Katie Hill has now been warned that she could face time behind bars for breeding litters in what was described by a district judge as being a “commercial operation”. Twelve dogs have been kept in kennels ever since the raid at a cost of more than £38,000 and face being put down.

Hill, aged 24, of Filey Road, Bushbury, pleaded guilty to breeding a litter of 10 puppies from two adult dogs at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court yesterday.

Miss Pushpa Sheemar, prosecuting, said: “On January 9, a drugs warrant was executed at her home address and some drugs were found, along with the pitbull-type dogs which were seized.

“There was a large adult male, a heavily pregnant female and five puppies. The pregnant female later gave birth to a litter of 12 puppies but only five survived.

“In interview, the defendant admitted they were pitbull dogs and she had sold them for between £200 and £300 per dog from previous litters.”

Hill, who is on jobseekers allowance and looking after her boyfriend’s two children while he is in prison, was fined £500 for possession of cocaine, Miss Sheemar added.

After initially pleading not guilty to breeding from fighting dogs, she changed her plea to guilty yesterday before her trial started. She has been bailed pending sentencing on October 28.

District Judge Michael Wheeler warned Hill she was facing prison, saying: “This is a very serious offence and I am not prepared to rule out custody at this stage. This was for commercial gain – this was a commercial operation.”

Mrs Hina Paw, defending, said Hill was not aware at the time the animals were fighting dogs.

http://www.expressandstar.com/2009/10/22/woman-bred-illegal-fighting-dogs-in-home/

Birds seized over cock fighting

Animal welfare officers have seized seven birds they suspected were being kept for cock fighting.

The Scottish SPCA with the help of Lothian and Borders Police recovered the birds during raids on on a number of Edinburgh addresses on Tuesday.

The birds are now in the Scottish SPCA’s care and will be examined for evidence of being prepared for fighting.

As yet, no-one has been charged with an offence.

Scottish SPCA Ch Supt Mike Flynn said cock fight was illegal.

He added: “Cock fighting is big business for some very small sections of society. Prize birds can be worth hundreds of pounds to their owners and significant sums of money changes hands at the fights.

“This ancient blood sport is a very clandestine, underground activity that is shrouded in secrecy so we are very pleased to have removed these birds today in what was a successful operation.

“Any ’sport’ that involves pitting one animal against another and encouraging them to fight each other to extreme injury and often death is, in our view, abhorrent and has no place in modern society.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8319250.stm

Urban fox hunter to pay £500 fine

A DUMBARTON man has been fined £500 for fox hunting.

Martin Johnstone was spotted digging holes and sending a dog down to hunt foxes on wasteland near to Southdeen Avenue, Drumchapel, in June this year.

The 32-year-old forklift driver was arrested after police arrived and saw him and a fox running from a hole he had dug.

At Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday, Johnstone, of Fraser Avenue, Dumbarton, admitted deliberately hunting the animals on June 31 this year.

His co-accused Alexander McCafferty, 25, of Boghead Avenue, Dumbarton, had his not guilty plea accepted.

Prosecutor Wendy Hay told the court that a witness living in nearby flats saw Johnstone digging between 9.30am and 10am.

Miss Hay said: “The witness knew that the accused was digging in a place where foxes lived and telephoned police.

“The police attended and saw the accused emerge from the hole he had been digging and start to run away from the area.

“As he ran off, a fox was also seen to run from the hole.

“The officers managed to catch up with the accused who told them that he had been digging to try and find a lost dog.

“But CCTV footage showed the accused placing a dog down the hole a number of times after adjusting a tracking device on its collar.

“The accused was taken to the police office where he was interviewed but did not make any admissions to the offence.”

Defence lawyer Andrew Gallen told the court that Johnstone had instructed him not to tell the court about the circumstances of the offence or why he did it.

Mr Gallen simply added that the dog had been taken into police custody but was now back with Johnstone.

Sheriff Norman Ritchie reduced Johnstone’s fine from £600 to £500 because of his early plea of guilty.

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display.var.2532748.0.urban_fox_hunter_to_pay_500_fine.php

The hunts are still at it…and so are we

At Lush, we’re on the side of the foxes, which is why we are proud to launch our latest campaign against illegal fox hunting.

We let out a sigh of relief in 2004 when Parliament finally reacted to the will of the people and passed the Hunting Act, which outlawed the chasing and killing of foxes with packs of dogs. To this day, a whopping 75% of the population want to see hunting with hounds remain a criminal activity.

Unfortunately, the hunts are still at it. Since the Hunting Act came into force in 2005 there has been widespread breaking of the law by foxhunts. In Britain, mounted hunts continue to terrorise wildlife. Police are not making enforcement a priority, so for the hunts, it’s business as usual. This is why our friends at the Hunt Saboteurs Association are needed now more than ever.

The Hunt Saboteurs Association, run by unpaid volunteers, bravely use non-violent means to protect hunted animals. They film hunts breaking the law and give police the evidence. But most importantly, the hunt sabs take direct action to hunt sabs association save animals in danger: they use hunting horns to call the hounds away, or cover a fox’s scent with a harmless spray of citronella essential oil. Since they started over 40 years ago they have saved thousands of foxes, deer, hares, mink, otters and game birds.

The hunt sabs tell us that as long as the law is not enforced through the courts, they will be out on the fields of Britain. They don’t want to be there, but nobody else is doing the job. It is disgraceful that the Hunt Saboteurs Association, a volunteer organisation, are obliged to enforce a law passed not just by a majority in Parliament, but with overwhelming support from the public.

We’ve asked around, and it seems most people believe that hunting with hounds stopped when it was made illegal. Sadly this is not the case and we believe people have a right to know. So please, during the week of October 12th visit your local Lush shop, sign a post card to your Chief Constable, asking them to get behind the Hunting Act and make its enforcement a priority, buy a Fabulous Mrs Fox Bubble Bar and help spread the word.

FABULOUS MRS FOX BUBBLE BAR; 100% of the proceeds (minus VAT) go to the Hunt Saboteurs Association.

This Bubble Bar, which was dreamed up by a group of our shop managers, is made with a selection of English plants fabulous Mrs fox

like peppermint and angelica root to celebrate the great British countryside. 100% of the proceeds go to the Hunt Saboteurs Association who are all about protecting our wildlife. It’s a limited edition and we’ll be selling it until Boxing Day.

WHAT EXACTLY IS HAPPENING IN THE COUNTRYSIDE? TALLY-HO!

Under the Hunting Act it is OK to go out into the countryside with horses and a pack of hounds, but it is illegal to use those hounds to chase and kill wildlife.

While many people have been prosecuted under the new law, most hunts quickly realised that they can continue to hunt foxes under the cloak of so-called “trail hunting”, where hounds are let loose in the country to follow a pre-laid fox scent. Inevitably, the hounds pick up the scent of a real fox, which results in the poor animal being chased for hours and then ripped to pieces. Hunters claim these “accidents” are not against the law, and usually police don’t collect evidence or prosecute the hunts. In the opinion of experienced hunt sabs and monitors around the country, trail hunting is just a front for illegal foxhunting. If police got more involved in enforcing the act, and if Parliament made it clear that these “accidents” were unacceptable, a lot fewer animals would suffer.

Even before the ban came into effect, a reported 50,000 hunt members and supporters publicly signed a declaration saying they would break the law if their blood sport was ever banned, so widespread flouting of the law is not surprising.

FOX FACTFILE:

• The fox population regulates itself based on territory and food availability, and they play an important part in the ecosystem. Scientific reports indicate that hunting with hounds plays an ‘insignificant’ role in controlling fox numbers.

• Foxes will run from a pack of hounds until they are beyond exhaustion. This terrifying chase can last for hours. Hounds are bred for stamina, so they eventually catch up with the fox, and the end is horrible.

• When hounds are no longer useful to the hunt, they are usually killed and their bodies sometimes get fed back to the pack.

https://www.lush.co.uk

Lush bubble bath to support hunt saboteur campaign

The cosmetics company Lush is launching a bubble bath it hopes will raise tens of thousands of pounds for anti-blood sports activists who sabotage fox hunts.

The Hunt Saboteurs Association will be the latest beneficiary of proceeds from Lush, the ethical producer of handmade soaps which has gained a reputation for backing radical protest groups.

The citronella and peppermint bubble bath, called The Fabulous Mr Fox, will arrive on the shelves in the coming weeks and will be on sale until Boxing Day, a traditional day for fox hunts. The company hopes the product will raise £50,000 for the activists, and said they money will be used to fund vehicles and video equipment.

Mark Constantine, the 59-year-old co-founder of Lush, which is based in Poole, Dorset, has previously donated large portions of his profits to human rights groups, animal welfare organisations and environmental protesters such as Plane Stupid, who promote non-violent civil disobedience to opposed airport expansion.

Proceeds from the Lush cosmetics empire, which is thought to be worth around £150m, have also been used to fund campaigns to support Sumatran orangutans and oppose the widening of the M1 motorway. Sea Shepherd, a guerilla conservation group that operates vessels to scupper rival ships it finds whaling in the middle of the ocean, has received £22,000 from the sale of Lush products.

Lush, founded by Constantine in 1995, has become a multinational company, with branches in north America, Japan and Australia.

The company claims to give around 2% of profits to charity and is keen to promote itself as an ethical brand. Constantine said funding activists groups was “central to what we do”.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/03/lush-supports-hunt-saboteurs