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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| 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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| It's too risky to halt hunts, say
police chiefs - 5 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.
Officers are also told to carry out risk assessments before embarking
on an investigation; to ask farmers for permission to go on their
land; and not to use police helicopters in case they "cause alarm
to horses".
Pro-hunt campaigners said that the guidance showed that the Hunting
Act of 2004 was completely unenforceable.
The guidance, released under the Freedom of Information Act, is intended
to prepare officers for the start of the first full hunting season
since the ban, which begins in autumn.
In the 30-page document, released by two constabularies - Gloucestershire
and Devon and Cornwall - police chiefs make clear: "Police officers
will not routinely be deployed to hunt meetings." If officers
are deployed it will only be after a detailed "risk assessment
completed on the deployment of that officer or team by a responsible
person. Appropriate support must be considered.
"In addition, all police officers deployed must be adequately
briefed on their role, legal constraints and on their health and safety."
Far from chasing across fields, any officer sent to investigate a
hunt should "record all available evidence (visual or verbal)
in the most appropriate manner, by pocket notebook".
It makes clear that they should not try to catch an illegal hunt taking
place but wait until it has run its course before investigating. When
they do so, they should ask for permission from farmers. "The
Act does not give any power of entry on to land to allow a police
officer to gather evidence. Therefore all police officers must make
sure they have the landowner's express permission to be on that land."
It advises officers to use the new Countryside and Rights of Way Act
to see whether they have access to a particular piece of land.
On gathering evidence, it says: "It is not recommended that any
police officer investigating an alleged breach of the Act takes possession
of the carcass of any dead fox, deer or other animal." The guidance
instructs officers never to try to seize horses and to seize hounds
only in exceptional circumstances. Courts should always be made aware
of the "limited ability of the constabulary to handle any dogs".
In conclusion, it says that it might be "more appropriate"
for an individual or organisation to take a civil or private action
against an illegal hunt rather than have police embark on a criminal
investigation.
Commenting on the guidance, Tim Bonner of the Countryside Alliance
said: "The Government has to answer for putting police forces
across the country in a ludicrous situation where they have to waste
time and resources on checking that foxes are culled by approved methods
when they should be tackling real crimes."
PLEASE NOTE - © Telegraph Group
Limited 2005.
The text above is directly from The Daily Telegraph article "It's
too risky to halt hunts, say police chiefs" - access it below. |
Related
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The Daily Telegraph | 5 June 2005
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