LETTERS: Hunting Act 'still alive' despite High Court ruling

Dear Editor - Contrary to what the Countryside Alliance would like us to believe, today’s judgment on the Hunting Act from the High Court is in fact a very positive step forward in ensuring illegal hunters are brought to justice.
Instead of being a ‘new blow to the Hunting Act’, this will clarify the law and clear up any confusion around what is legal hunting and what is illegal hunting.
There is absolutely no suggestion anywhere in the judgment that the Act is unenforceable.
More importantly, this will clear the way for a backlog of cases to pass through the courts which will no doubt see the number of prosecutions rise even further.
The League has always believed the law to be sound and effective and with any law the problem is with enforcement not with the law itself.
Testament to this is the fact nearly 100 MPs have signed a new Early Day Motion calling for better enforcement of the Hunting Act.
Seventy five per cent of the people in the UK do not want to see a return to cruelty when killing wild animals for fun was legal.
It is time the Countryside Alliance et al accepted this and stopped complaining about a law which prevents them enjoying their so-called sport.

Douglas Batchelor
Chief Executive
League Against Cruel Sports
New Sparling House
Holloway Hill

Godalming

'Nail in coffin' of hunting ban as foxhunter wins High Court ruling

TONY Wright, the first huntsman to be prosecuted under the Hunting Act, today won a High Court ruling which was immediately hailed as a new blow to the Labour Government’s anti-hunting legislation.
The two judges found in favour of Mr Wright (pictured) and rejected an appeal by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), meaning the prosecution of many Hunting Act offences will now be more difficult.
The League Against Cruel Sports brought a private prosecution against Mr Wright after he led out the Exmoor Foxhounds in April, 2005, just a few weeks after the Act came into force.
He was alleged to have signalled the hounds to pursue two foxes at Drybridge, on the Devon side of the county boundary, twice allowing them a ‘prolonged period of pursuit’.
Under the law, only flushing out foxes to be shot is still legal.
Mr Wright, now aged 54, of Simonsbath, was convicted in Barnstaple Magistrates Court in August, 2006, and was fined £500 and ordered to pay £250 costs.
However, the conviction was overturned by in Exeter Crown Court in November, 2007.
Now, a CPS appeal against his acquittal has been lost in the High Court.
The CPS argued it should have been for Mr Wright to prove that he had been hunting legally, and that ‘hunting a mammal’ includes ‘searching’ for it.
After the case, Mr Wright said he was relieved it was now all over and he hoped the case had put one of the final nails in the coffin of the Hunting Act.
He said: “This prosecution has now dragged on for over three years and during that time I have been living under the threat of a criminal conviction.
“If this judgment, though, makes it less likely that other people will face the sort of vindictive prosecution that I have been through, then it has all been worth it.”
Countryside Alliance chief executive Simon Hart said: “Even before today’s judgment only five people connected to hunts have been convicted of any offence since the Act came into force.
“The CPS argued in court that if it lost this appeal ‘prosecutions under the 2004 Act would rarely be viable’, so there should now be even fewer prosecutions.
“The Hunting Act is an increasingly pointless piece of legislation that offered little and has achieved less.
“Politicians of all parties are coming to realise that it has failed and it is now a question of when, not if, the Hunting Act is repealed.”
The ruling means those accused of breaching the hunt ban will be innocent until proven guilty, with the burden of proof lying with those bringing a prosecution.
Legal expert Tim Hayden, chairman of Taunton law firm Clarke Willmott, said: “This decision will reduce the risk of people being convicted where they are unable to recall or to prove the events that may have happened many months earlier.
“I would expect a reduction in the number of such cases being brought before the courts.”

Large crowds turn out for traditional Boxing Day hunt meet

MINEHEAD Harriers traditional Boxing Day was switched for the first time this year to the town’s seafront and took place in the freezing cold yesterday.
Several hundred hunt supporters turned out for the occasion, which was held outside the Beach Hotel.
Despite a hunting ban introduced four years ago, meets by the Harriers and other hunts across West Somerset have continued to prove to be just as popular, if not more so.
Harriers secretary Tim Holt said following the sale by Barry Richards of the town centre Wellington Hotel, where the Boxing Day meet had been held for many years, it was decided to host it instead at the Beach Hotel, which Mr Richards still owned.
Mr Holt said the change was hugely popular with a larger than ever public attendance.
He said: “There must have been one of the biggest crowds I have ever seen at a meet and it was all good-natured.
“None of the ‘antis’ were there to cause any nonsense and we had a great send-off.”
Harriers vice-president Mike Padgett said: “It was tremendous to see the support we get from the ordinary public of West Somerset.
“It just goes to show what an important part the hunt plays in the local community and how valued it is as a part of everybody’s lives.”
The West Somerset Vale hunt met in Nether Stowey and also saw larger than usual crowds gather at The Cross to see them ride out, bringing traffic in the village centre to a halt as they did so.
The Countryside Alliance said Boxing Day meets across the country had generally enjoyed their largest turnouts since the hunting ban was introduced.
Countryside Alliance spokesman Tim Bonner, who leads a campaign to repeal the hunting ban, said: “There seems to be a very large turnout at all the meets.
“There is a feeling that people are coming out just to support their local hunt and the campaign for the repeal of the act. It is a very positive feeling across the country.”

Political award for defending country way of life

AN organisation which has championed the lifestyles of people on Exmoor and other rural areas has won a prestigious television award.
The Countryside Alliance, born out of the fight against the hunting ban and the effects of Foot and Mouth Disease, was named ‘the most inspiring political personality’ of the past 10 years in a Channel 4 News political awards programme.
It won the title for ‘its campaigns against the fox hunting ban and its defence of rural life’.
Founding president Baronnes Mallalieu QC and chairman Kate Hoey, MP, accepted the award from actor Jeremy Irons.
Baronnes Mallalieu quoted Shakespeare in describing her own Government as being guilty of the ‘insolence of office’.
She warned future administrations, of whatever colour, that there was ‘unfinished business’ in the countryside.
The ‘inspiring’ category was a special award in the annual political awards to mark Channel 4 News’ 10th anniversary.
Other shortlisted candidates included Tony Blair and Ken Livingstone.
Countryside Alliance chief executive Simon Hart said: “This win is a great shot in the arm for the Countryside Alliance at the start of 2008.
“It is clear that we were shortlisted primarily because of the hunting issue and our vocal campaigning style.
“Our ongoing tenacity and support for the hunting community will remain at the core of what we do, but Channel 4 also acknowledged our broader reach, naming our ‘defence of rural life’.
“The Countryside Alliance believes that when it comes to the defence of that rural life, it is ‘all of us or none of us’.
“This belief in unity makes the victory all the sweeter, the acclaim is for all of us.
“Everybody who has marched, signed petitions, written to their MP, volunteered or worked for the Alliance, and stoically continued to defend country sports and the rural way of life for the past decade can rightly claim this award as their own.”
The award was voted for by telephone, text, and email to decide the winner.
Spokesman for the Minehead Harriers, Mike Padgett, said: “We are so pleased that the Countryside Alliance has won this prestigious award from Channel 4 for fighting our corner, the fox hunting ban and its defence of rural life.”

• Our photograph shows Kate Hoey and Simon Hart, of the Countryside Alliance, with their Channel 4 award. Photo submitted.