The Support Hunting Association is one
of the UK's most prominent pro-hunting organisations, now incorporating
issues related to Game Shooting, Fox Hunting and Angling.
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2007 Oakley
Hounds Calendar
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All profits from this calendar will be donated
equally to two local good causes. The Thames Valley and Chiltern Air
Ambulance and the Oakley Hounds. |
Have you seen these
pages?
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| Police View
of a hunting ban - Two chief constables voice their concern on
a ban on hunting.
Timelines -On the current Hunting
Bill, the attempts to ban hunting, and on the ban in Scotland.
Hunting vs. Human
Rights - Parliament has advised that the Hunting Bill is incompatible
with the Human Rights Act. |
Quotes
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The ban has guaranteed that the time and money invested by the League
Against Cruel Sports and the RSPCA has increased animal suffering.
We told them this would happen. This rise in suffering since the ban
is the cost of ignoring that warning!
Daily Telegraph
3 May 2005.
Numerous police officers accompanied the more than 250 hunts which
took place yesterday, the first day that the sport became illegal.
Despite the friendly exchanges between officers and huntsmen and women,
the presence of the police posed a question: what public good were
they trying to uphold?
Daily Telegraph
20 February 2005.
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| News Centre |
Welcome to our news centre. Here
you can find the latest news on game shooting and fox hunting.
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05.11.06:
National Trust may relax hunt regulations
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5 November:
Members of the National Trust have voted to relax their rules on hunting
on Exmoor.
If the vote is adopted as trust policy, hunts will be able to follow
sick or injured deer on to their land to kill the animal.
Trust members voted to allow hunting of stags at the Holnicote Estate,
which forms much of Exmoor.
The results at the annual general meeting in Cheltenham were 12,768
in favour of the ban, 20,188 against.
BBC News: Trust
may relax hunt regulations
5 November 2006. Read
the latest. |
07.11.06:
The banned rode on
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| 7 November:
Eighteen months ago hunting was banned. Or was it? The hounds are
still running, foxes are still being killed and the number of people
taking part has actually increased. As the new season begins, Stephen
Moss saddles up and discovers how the hunts are outfoxing the law.
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04.11.06:
Hunters
mark beginning of season
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| 4 November:
The fox hunting season has got under way with thousands of enthusiasts
setting out on foot and horseback following packs of hounds.
Police and hunt monitors were out checking people stayed within the
law.
Hunting foxes with dogs in England and Wales was
banned in 2005 but hounds can be used to follow an artificial scent.
Supporters said they would test the "ridiculous law" to its limits while anti-hunt protesters warned more hunters could be prosecuted.
Under the new guidelines, dogs can also be used to flush out a fox, which can then be killed by a bird of prey or shot - as long as only two dogs are involved in the process.
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01.11.06:
Mike Hobday
gets Labour party vote
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| 1 November:
Mike Hobday has been chosen to stand as Labour's parliamentary candidate for Welwyn Hatfield.
The decision was made by ballot on Saturday and concluded a four-month selection contest between candidates from all over the country.
Speaking after the selection meeting, the former WGC county councillor said the economy had been good under Labour for Welwyn Hatfield.
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30.10.06:
Countryside
Alliance: Hunting continues to grow
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| 30 0ctober:
A new survey of hunts, carried out at the start of the 2006/07 season, has revealed that support and participation continue to grow, and that more land is available for hunting than before the Hunting Act. The news for foxes and hares is, however, not so good with over a third of hunts reporting that there are fewer in their areas.
The survey is based on returns from 61 hunts, just under a quarter of those registered with the Masters of Foxhounds Association and the Masters of Harriers and Beagles. Hunts were asked to compare the level of support, the number of subscribers, the amount of land available for hunting and the status of the quarry species with February 2004 when the Hunting Act came into force.
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07.09.06:
Telegraph: Hunt man turns
himself in after dog kills mouse
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| 7 September:
A retired police officer has admitted twice flouting the new hunting
law by allowing his terrier dog to chase and kill a mouse and a mole.
George Morrison, 51, reported himself to former colleagues but he
was not prosecuted over either incident.
He turned himself in to the police on both occasions to demonstrate
that the 2004 Hunting Act was a "ridiculous law". Under the legislation,
moles and mice are classed as mammals that cannot be killed by dogs,
although they can be shot by a competent huntsman.
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24.08.06:
BBC News: Huntsman appeals ban conviction
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| 24 August 2006:
A Somerset man who became the first person to be convicted for breaking
the ban on fox hunting with hounds has lodged an appeal against the
decision.
Tony Wright, 52, of Simonsbath, was fined £500 and ordered to
pay £250 costs after a private prosecution by the League Against
Cruel Sports (LACS).
Appeal papers have been filed at Exeter Crown Court where a first
hearing is expected within two months.
The league said it would fight Mr Wright's appeal.
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16.08.06:
Hunting is
'not top of police priorities'
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| 16 July 2006:
A chief police officer yesterday quashed campaigners' hopes that the
force will clamp down hard on illegal hunting by saying it was "not
top of the list of priorities". Assistant Chief Constable Richard
Stowe, of Devon and Cornwall Police, yesterday said incidents of flouting
the law on hunting would be treated "the same as all other wildlife
crime".
His comments were in response to demands from the League Against Cruel
Sports, which spent £65,000 in a private prosecution against
Exmoor hunstsman Tony Wright at Barnstaple Magistrates Court earlier
this month.
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04.08.06: Countryside Alliance: Huntsman will appeal
court decision
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| 4 August 2006:
Exmoor Huntsman Tony Wright will launch an appeal against his conviction
for an offence under the Hunting Act following today’s verdict
in a Barnstaple magistrates’ court.
Tony Wright was found guilty despite undisputed evidence that he was
attempting to comply with the conditions for ‘exempt hunting’
with two hounds, a marksman and that a fox was shot.
Simon Hart, Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance, said: “No
right minded person thinks that Tony Wright should have been branded
a criminal.
“If people were confused about the Hunting Act before today
they will be a lot more confused now. We believe that he was trying
to comply with the law as he understood it and will be supporting
his appeal.
“This is a piece of legislation which took seven years and 700
hours of parliamentary time to get onto the statute book yet still
it is illogical and unclear.
“Any law which can put a man like Tony Wright through nine months
of court action and tell him he is a criminal for doing something
he believed was entirely legal clearly isn’t working”.
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14.07.06:
Anger over
'anti-hunt propaganda'
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| 14 July 2006:
The government is being accused of funding "anti-hunt propaganda"
in a new guide to the British constitution.
The guide says Labour MP Kate Hoey almost certainly did not reflect
the wishes of voters in her London seat when she voted against a hunting
ban.
..."The last election result in Vauxhall [when Ms Hoey won a
majority of 10,000] certainly did not suggest that Kate was not reflecting
the wishes of her constituents," said Tim Bonner, spokesman for
the Countryside Alliance.
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04.07.06:
Countryside
Alliance appeal to Lords
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| 4 July 2006:
The Countryside Alliance is refusing to give up the fight to overturn
the controversial ban on hunting
After the Appeal Court last week rejected a challenge to the Hunting
Act under Human Rights and European Law, Alliance chief executive
Simon Hart said the organisation would now apply for its case to be
heard by the House of Lords and, if necessary, by the European Court
of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
...[Last week, the] three appeal judges upheld the High Court ruling
that the hunt ban was lawful, did not breach human rights and did
not infringe EU trading and employment laws.
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13.03.06:
New move
to outlaw government hunting ban
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A fresh attempt was launched today to have the Government’s
ban on hunting with dogs declared unlawful. The Countryside Alliance
and other pro-hunt campaigners asked the Court of Appeal to rule that
the ban breaches the European Convention on Human Rights and infringes
EU trading and employment laws. The courts have already dismissed
the constitutional challenge to the 2004 Hunting Act, which prohibits
fox hunting, deer hunting and hare coursing with dogs in England and
Wales.
The Alliance has branded the legislation “a divisive sectarian
measure” which could ruin the livelihoods of thousands who earn
their living from hunting. Richard Gordon QC, appearing for the Alliance,
argued today it would cause more suffering to many animals, not less,
and have very serious economic consequences.
Also See:
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23.02.06:
Farmer is badly hurt in clash with saboteurs
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A hunt supporter is seriously ill in hospital after suffering a fractured
skull in a confrontation with saboteurs.
Seven people were arrested after the incident, which happened as the
East Sussex and Romney Marsh Hunt held a trail hunt on Monday.
Hunt members said that a group of 30 saboteurs, many wearing balaclavas
and carrying fence posts and bricks, had turned up to their meet.
They said that the victim, a farmer in his late twenties, had been
following on a quad bike when he became separated from the rest of
the 25-strong hunt.
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17.02.06:
Tally Hoey! Freedom means not running with the Labour pack
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The day the ban came into force Kate Hoey went hunting with the Beaufort.
A year on, she is thrilled that hunting is more popular than ever...
"All the hunts have got far more people going out with them.
It's part of the British rebellious streak that as soon as something
is banned it becomes more attractive. There are a lot more women going
out, a lot more young people, people are getting fed up being told
how to run their lives." she said.
Although animal welfare campaigners saw the ban as a victory, she
says more foxes are dying now than before and she admits that many
are still being killed by hounds..
"Accidents happen," she says, "If you're going out
legally following a scented fox trail and the hounds come across a
real fox, they can kill it before it is possible to shoot it.”
Daily Telegraph:
Tally Hoey! Freedom means not running with the Labour pack
17 February 2006. Read
the full article.
Also See
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17.02.06:
Hunts accused of breaching ban
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The names of 33 hunts accused of repeatedly breaching the Hunting
Act have been sent by the League Against Cruel Sports to chief constables
in England and Wales. The decision by the animal welfare organisation
to focus attention on alleged "repeat offenders" comes on
the eve of the first anniversary of the ban on hunting with dogs.
Among incidents complained about is one in the
home counties shortly before Christmas, in which the league claims
a fox was thrown alive to the hounds. It says it has witnesses but
no film of the event. In another alleged breach of the law, a full
pack of hounds from a West Country hunt reportedly tore to pieces
a fox which had been befriended by a young child; again the league
has no film of the incident.
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19.01.06:
Ex-Mirror journalist brands hunt ban “stupid”
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Former Mirror political editor David Seymour criticises the paper’s
anti-hunt line as he speaks exclusively to Horse & Hound.
David Seymour “parted company” with the Mirror Group last
Friday after 12 years as political editor. On Saturday, he went hunting
for the first time with the North Cotswold in protest at the Daily
Mirror's anti-hunting reporting — and the “stupid”
hunting ban.
“When I joined the Mirror I was anti-hunting,
in the way you are when you don't think about it,” said Seymour,
62, who lives in London with his wife and twin 13-year-old daughters.
“I've been riding for nearly 20 years from Jill Carenza's
yard at Stanton in Gloucestershire, where we keep a horse. Over
the years, having spent time with riding and hunting folk, I've
come to understand what hunting is about — which is rather
different from my colleagues at the Mirror.” |
17.01.06:
Hunting is top cultural icon
|
Foxhunting could top a government poll to find England's greatest
cultural icon, despite last February's ban. Yesterday, fox hunting
had risen to first place in the online poll Icons: A Portrait of England,
thanks to an e-mail campaign by a pro-foxhunting group Felix the Fox.
Icons: A Portrait of England is a new scheme designed to paint a virtual
portrait of the country by exploring the most cherished items of English
culture online. It also aims to encourage debate amongst members of
the public as to what defines England. The two-year £1 million
project has been commissioned by Culture Online, part of the Department
for Culture, Media and Sport.
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27.12.05:
Hunting ban 'needs tightening up'
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Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe is calling on the government to tighten
up the laws governing hunting with dogs.
Ms Widdecombe, who supported the hunting ban, said the original legislation
had been too lenient and needed to be re-thought.
"The reason that it hasn't been effective is because in many
ways we were far too kind in order not to accidentally get other activities
like falconry, caught up in it. We left too many loopholes."
|
26.12.05:
'Successful start' to hunt season
|
Supporters and opponents of fox hunting have both claimed success
after the first day of the new season - the first since a ban in England
and Wales.
The Countryside Alliance said hunts had taken place within the law
across the country, with thousands taking part.
Daily Telegraph:
Traditional meets see big turnout despite ban on hunting
27 December 2005. Read
the full article.
View from the USA:
View from the extreme-left:
The Mirror:
Tally-No! - Fury As Hunts Gallop Out 10 Months After Ban
27 December 2005. Read
the full article. |
08.11.05:
Middle-Way Group: Ditch the ban
|
The Middle Way group is urging the Government to ditch its "unworkable"
fox hunting ban, after confusion reigned at hunts that met across
Wales on Saturday for the first day of the new season.
Members of the All Party Parliamentary Middle Way Group, Liberal Democrat
MPs Lembit Opik and Roger Williams, claim the ban is "worse than
useless" and is increasing animal suffering instead of ending
it.
|
06.11.05:
Kate Hoey: hunting ban will change
|
The ban on fox hunting is "so bad and so ridiculous" it
will eventually be changed, Kate Hoey told GMTV's Sunday Programme,
she said: "The reality is the police know this is a law which
is totally impossible for them to enforce and the bad law always ends
up being changed. I'm very confident that will happen."
Also see:
|
05.11.05:
Hunting
Returns
|
November 5th saw the start of the first
hunting season since the ban on hunting with dogs came into force
in February. Thousands of people attended the 200 hunts that met across
England and Wales.
With the ban only recently introduced, hunts were eager to try new
methods of hunting within the law. The Cheshire Forest Huntbegan using
a hawk to kill the fox which had been flushed out by hounds, Hunt
Joint Master Peter Heaton said "the hounds are not hunting, but
they are flushing for the hawk to hunt. It is one of the ways we are
testing the legislation".
The League against cruel sports attended several hunts in an 'attempt
to collect information to pass on to the police', whilst the Countryside
Alliance released a new report showing that support for the ban is
at an all-time low. 45% of people are said to be in favour of the
legislation, compared to 63% six years ago.
All the Relevant News Stories:
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05.11.05:
Man charged under Hunting Act
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A Professional huntsman has become the
first person in England to face prosecution for allegedly breaking
the hunt ban.
Tony Wright is being prosecuted privately by the League Against Cruel
Sports after police and the Crown Prosecution Service refused the
case.
Mr Wright has been summonsed to appear before Barnstaple magistrates
in Devon on November 24.
A spokesman for the League said: "It's crucial this case comes
to court. We've made 20 complaints to police but only two have been
referred on."
Mr Wright, huntsman at the Exmoor Foxhounds since 1982, is accused
of breaching the law at a hunt at Drybridge, Devon. Hunting with hounds
was banned last February.
All the Relevant News Stories:
|
13.10.05:
Law Lords reject Hunting Act appeal
|
Countryside campaigners have lost their latest bid to overturn the
ban on hunting with dogs, after nine Law Lords unanimously ruled it
would remain.
The Countryside Alliance had argued the legislation used to force
the ban through in England and Wales - the 1949 Parliament Act - was
illegal.
But Lord Bingham of Cornhill, head of the panel of Lords, said it
was valid. The Countryside Alliance vowed to fight on, while anti-hunt
campaigners called it a "triumph for democracy".
Another challenge to the Hunting Act by the Countryside Alliance,
under European human rights legislation, goes to appeal at the High
Court next year.
All the Relevant News Stories:
|
Latest:
Shooting
& 'Beating' the ban
|
Labour
MP attacks move to ban shooting (icWales, 27 Sept. 2005)
A Labour MP yesterday launched a bitter attack on an animal welfare
campaign group... over the future of shooting and angling. The row
erupted at a Labour conference fringe meeting in Brighton organised
by the League Against Cruel Sports, after [it] called for an end to
a cruel 'killing' field in the countryside that saw millions of birds
slaughtered annually for sport.
Reading West MP Martin Salter, a keen angler who advises Sports Minister
Richard Caborn on hunting and shooting... confirmed there are no plans
to ban shooting and angling, sports which he said are enjoyed by millions
of party supporters.
Mr Salter said [LACS] should not think that because Labour had worked
closely with it on the fox-hunting ban it meant he could control elected
MPs... and [confirmed that] acres of woodland managed for shooting
estates contained some of the best biodiversity in the country, with
shooting employing 37,000 people and making a £600m contribution
to the economy.
Click
here to read the full article at icWales.
How
do hunters plan to get round the ban? (BBC News, 27 Sept.
2005)
Activists fighting the anti-hunt legislation are urging horseback
hunters to saddle up and give the government a run for its money as
the new hunting season gets underway.
Despite the highly controversial ban on fox hunting with hounds, which
came into force in February, the law still allows hunting of certain
other creatures.
And "loopholes" mean that even foxes could be legally killed
in a hunt, if it is unintentional and by accident.
Click here
to read the full article at BBC News.
Eagles
'used to beat hunting ban' (BBC News, 17th Sept. 2005)
Hunts are buying birds of prey to try and side-step the ban on fox
hunting with hounds, falconry experts warn.
About 20 hunts have bought golden eagles and eagle owls in the belief
they are acting within the law.
Using dogs to flush wild mammals for a bird of prey to hunt is an
exemption set out in the Hunting Act 2004.
Click
here to read the full article at BBC News. |
Latest
related news
|
Met
Police accused of 'tit for tat' hunt supporters' arrests
(14 Sept. 2005)
The Metropolitan Police have been accused of carrying out "tit
for tat" revenge prosecutions after last year's Parliament Square
pro-hunting demonstration.
Protesters who made official complaints to the Independent Police
Complaints Commission claim that after their details were passed to
the force they were "targeted" by the Met.
Click here for more.
Hunt ban bites in Countryside
(18th August 2005)
Rural businesspeople in Yorkshire say they are already being hit by
the effects of the ban on hunting with dogs even though the new hunting
season is still more than two months away.
Click here for more.
It's too risky to halt
hunts, say police chiefs (5th June 2005)
Police have been told not to foil illegal fox hunts when the hunting
season begins because of health and safety regulations. Guidance drawn
up by police chiefs instructs officers to take the most cautious approach
when investigating reports of illegal hunts for fear that they might
injure themselves. They have been told not to go near hounds or horses
and not to confiscate dead animals as evidence in case of injury or
infection.
Click here for
more. |
News:
Just have a quick look at these reports...
|
The
genial statesman with a lethal sting (Daily Telegraph, 7
August 2005)
Labour MP Gerald Kaufman - one of Parliaments most prominent anti-hunting
MPs - writing an obituary to the late former Foreign Secretary Robin
Cook:
"Unlike many front-line,
successful politicians, he had a life outside politics. He was a
racing tipster and a horseman. He was one of a small number of Labour
MPs who opposed a ban on fox-hunting. When I was Shadow Home Secretary
he asked me to meet him and a pro-hunting trade union leader, so
that I could heed their appeal not to make a ban on hunting official
Labour party policy. Since I always regarded this as a conscience
issue to be decided on a free vote, I was able to oblige and the
meeting ended amicably."
Hunting ban breakers 'targeted'
(BBC News, 18th May 2005)
Some anti-hunt campaigners are targeting the homes of huntsmen they
think are breaking the hunting ban, a senior police officer has said.
Sussex's Assistant Chief Constable Nigel Yeo said he knew of cases
of houses and kennels being targeted. These had happened since the
ban came into force in February, Mr Yeo told the Association of Chief
Police Officers' annual conference, and he said he feared the conflict
could escalate when the hunting season began.
Click
here for the full story from BBC News.
General
Election 2005: Hunt supporters thanked for role in ousting Bradley
(Daily Telegraph, 8th May 2005)
The Tory MP who unseated Peter Bradley, the anti-hunting campaigner,
in The Wrekin led tributes last night to the silent army of hunt supporters
whose efforts helped the Conservatives snatch 29 semi-rural seats
from Labour in the general election. Mark Pritchard, the new Conservative
MP for The Wrekin in Shropshire, was one of 130 candidates, most of
them Tories, who received help from 20,000 countryside campaigners
who poured into marginal seats all over Britain in an attempt to unseat
anti-hunting Labour MPs. Mr Bradley, whose 3,587 majority was overturned,
found himself at the front line of their efforts after he wrote in
The Telegraph that the struggle over the legislation to ban hunting
with hounds "was not just about animal welfare and personal freedom,
it was class war". (Also see below: 'Yes - this is class war').
Click
here for the full story from the Daily Telegraph. |
Latest Hunting News
|
All the latest news on hunting can now be found on the front
page of the site.
|
In-Depth
Sections
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The Timelines
For timelines on the Scottish ban, Attempts to ban hunting and the
current Hunting Bill.
The Hunting Bill
For the latest on the current Hunting Bill going through Parliament.
The Scottish Ban
A full in-depth guide to the ban on hunting in Scotland. |
Archived
Reports
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