Long live "the music of the hounds"
Posted: Sun Dec 12, 2004 11:04 pm
Business as usual in England on February 19, says alliance
By A Correspondent
MORE than 250 packs of foxhounds, hare hounds, deer hounds and other hunts and clubs will meet as normal on Saturday, February 19 — the day after the Government hunting ban comes into force in England and Wales.
The Countryside Alliance said yesterday that the meets would be widely advertised and held at locations which were well placed to allow everyone “who supported freedom and tolerance” to support their local hunt.
They will also make it clear that they intend to hunt within the law and will have gained permission from landowners to carry out legal hunting activities.
Simon Hart, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, told Radio 4’s World at One that everyone would be hunting within the law.
“Anybody who suggests this is going to be an exercise in law-breaking is going to be very much mistaken. What it will be an exercise in, is indicating to the general public that what has been passed into law is impossibly difficult to determine and will involve very many different forms of interpretation, and from a policing and enforcement angle will be an absolute nightmare.
“It will be done lawfully, it will be done sensibly and will also send another message that the hunting community is viewing what is happening as a temporary setback, a temporary ban . . . which will be rectified.”
Chasing a fox or a deer will apparently not be banned under the Hunting Act. A farmer has been told by the Government that he will not be breaking the new law if he uses dogs to “chase away” wild mammals from his land.
Giles Bradshaw, from Devon, wrote to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, saying that he had used his four dogs to frighten but not kill foxes and deer that strayed on to his land.
He was told by the department that, according to its lawyer, his actions amounted to “chasing away unwanted animals (deer and foxes) from your land”.
Department officials added: “You are not, in fact, hunting as described in the Hunting Act 2004. Therefore, you are not committing an offence.”
By A Correspondent
MORE than 250 packs of foxhounds, hare hounds, deer hounds and other hunts and clubs will meet as normal on Saturday, February 19 — the day after the Government hunting ban comes into force in England and Wales.
The Countryside Alliance said yesterday that the meets would be widely advertised and held at locations which were well placed to allow everyone “who supported freedom and tolerance” to support their local hunt.
They will also make it clear that they intend to hunt within the law and will have gained permission from landowners to carry out legal hunting activities.
Simon Hart, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, told Radio 4’s World at One that everyone would be hunting within the law.
“Anybody who suggests this is going to be an exercise in law-breaking is going to be very much mistaken. What it will be an exercise in, is indicating to the general public that what has been passed into law is impossibly difficult to determine and will involve very many different forms of interpretation, and from a policing and enforcement angle will be an absolute nightmare.
“It will be done lawfully, it will be done sensibly and will also send another message that the hunting community is viewing what is happening as a temporary setback, a temporary ban . . . which will be rectified.”
Chasing a fox or a deer will apparently not be banned under the Hunting Act. A farmer has been told by the Government that he will not be breaking the new law if he uses dogs to “chase away” wild mammals from his land.
Giles Bradshaw, from Devon, wrote to the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, saying that he had used his four dogs to frighten but not kill foxes and deer that strayed on to his land.
He was told by the department that, according to its lawyer, his actions amounted to “chasing away unwanted animals (deer and foxes) from your land”.
Department officials added: “You are not, in fact, hunting as described in the Hunting Act 2004. Therefore, you are not committing an offence.”