ESSEX: Fox hunters call on Tories to kill ban
FOX hunters are in a defiant mood as they look forward with a glimmer of hope that the ban on hunting will be overturned by Parliament.
Douglas Hill, master of the Essex Farmers and Union Hunt, was in a buoyant mood at the traditional Boxing Day morning meet at the Horse and Groom pub in Galleywood.
Mr Hill said he believed Conservative MPs would repeal the controversial Hunting Act, expressing confidence there would be a change of parties at next year's General Election.
Tory leader David Cameron has already promised his MPs a free vote on a repeal if they gain power.
Mr Hill said: "The ban hasn't made the slightest difference to us, apart from the fact that we cannot actually catch foxes.
"Foxes are now being shot, but we say that this method of control has the potential to endanger human life.
"What it has achieved is a population explosion of foxes in the county and one farmer at Woodham Walter has his chickens wiped out on a regular basis."
See this week's Chronicle for the full story.
4 Comments
by Alan, Shenfield
Thursday, January 07 2010, 12:54AM
“Mairi, Barbara and Geoffrey your arguments are convincing.
I have a sneaking feeling Cameron may not get in anyway.”
by Mairi, UK
Saturday, January 02 2010, 11:20PM
“Foxes can be shot accurately and humanely. There is no explosion in their numbers and there are as many rural people against the hunt as urban. The chicken farmer simply needs to build the right type of enclosure (see the Natural England website for details).
There is no case for repeal. Hunt numbers are up all over the country. Drag hunting is legal. The sense of community, pageantry, heritage, and jobs are all still intact and yet these disgraceful people can¿t manage to enjoy themselves unless they are terrifying and killing animals.
If you support the hunting act, please get your names on the R.O.A.R. (Register Online Against Repeal), an ¿all party¿ list at the Campaign For Decency Org website. Please make your voices heard!”
by Barbara, Shildon, County Durham
Saturday, January 02 2010, 4:27PM
“So because a certain section of the public don't like being told they cannot kill animals in a certain way they believe they have to right to change the law to make it more acceptable to them, and cameron is going along with this. What about the majority of people who not only are sickened by what cameron and his pals' idea of fun is but actually want the hunting ban strengthened? If Cameron is willing to so blatantly disregard the wishes of the majority on this, do you really think he's going to follow any agenda but his own on anything else? I don't want a prime minister so easily led by the nose by thugs like the Countryside Alliance. Pull your head in cameron, your feet are not under the table of no 10 yet, and hopefully never will be.”
by Geoffrey Woollard, South East Cambridgeshire
Saturday, January 02 2010, 11:08AM
“And I call on the Tories NOT to 'kill the ban.' If anything, the Hunting Act needs strengthening so that we can be sure that chasing and killing wild animals for fun is clearly and for ever unlawful and regarded by all with well-deserved revulsion. If they know what's good for them politically, Cameron & Co. should, at the very least, promise to let sleeping dogs lie.”