Some good Christmas cheer for Northern Ireland
“ Ulster Unionist South Down MLA John McCallister said: “I am concerned that this bill is the thin edge of the wedge for our rural way of life. First this bill then shooting, then fishing - you do not want to go down that road. Why would you tie up police resources when you have many other issues to deal with? It criminalises some of our most law-abiding citizens."
New film on case for repeal
If you wished to suport your local hunt this Christmas a list can be found here :giggle:
Looks like the tide of opinion may be on the change
New polling* published to coincide with the biggest day of the hunting year shows that six out of ten people think the Hunting Act has been a waste of police time and eight out of ten believe animal rights activists should not be allowed take the law into their own hands.
The police have dealt with thousands of allegations since the Hunting Act came into force, but there have been just twelve attempts to prosecute hunts of which eight have failed. The latest case involved three members of the Sinnington Hunt in Yorkshire who were cleared of all charges after a three day trial earlier this month.
The poll, carried out by ORB for the Countryside Alliance, asked 2 questions:
Do you think that banning hunting and the subsequent requirement to police the ban is a good use of police resources?
•No 62%
•Yes 33%
•Don't know 4%
Do you think that animal rights activists should be allowed to take the law into their own hands for the purpose of protecting wild animals?
•No 85%
•Yes 13%
•Don't know 2%
Countryside Alliance Chief Executive Alice Barnard said: "The Hunting Act has wasted thousands of hours of police time and millions of pounds of taxpayers money. Police officers have spent endless time investigating allegations made by animal rights activists when they could have been tackling real crime like burglary, knife crime and drug dealing.
"No wonder Tony Blair has now admitted that the Act is one of his greatest regrets, and the new government has called it an unnecessary drain on police resources.
"The coalition government is committed to a vote on the Hunting Act. When the law is debated and its failure and waste exposed, we are confident that the country and parliament will support the arguments for getting rid of it."
From here;
Nothing seems to make people more heated then discussing the pros and cons of hunting. Fox hunting is alive and kicking around Hay On Wye - at least four hunts span the immediate area - and in fact fox hunting is happening all over the countryside. Most city people I talk to think it is cruel and want it banned. Most country people think the opposite.......
My pony pricked up his ears and started to look about excitedly, and as I began to trot home I came across about 15 hounds, a jumble of vehicles and some men wearing Barbour-type jackets with flat caps and sticks. Very Down to Earth Powell and Pressberger.
The hounds were impressively polite and allowed my pony to walk down the lane unaccosted and I stopped to ask one gentleman what they were doing. "Cubbing", they answered.
Everyone round here knows what that is - rooting out the young foxes and preparing the hounds for the proper hunt. As I had just been in an outdoor riding menage littered with the droppings of over thirty foxes (each with big plumstones in them - they had obviously gorged themselves on Charlotte's plums the day before), I knew as well as the hunters that the area was teeming with foxes.
Nobody says much though. It's an official secret throughout the land - away from Westminster and all the townies - that fox hunting is going strong.
