Majority know ban is correct
IN Colin Richey's confused letter, Time to drop hunt ban, Gazette, January 5, he seeks to reopen the hunting issue.
Whether hunting is or is not cruel — a matter on which Mr Richey seems uncertain — was determined in the affirmative in 2004.
The fact is that there are two types of people in society, those who believe that to chase and kill animals for fun is a legitimate activity and those who do not. Polls constantly show that between 70 and 85 per cent of the population fall into the latter category.
Hunt supporters have sought and failed to legitimise their activity through recourse to the Scottish Courts, the High Court, the House of Lords and, most recently, to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
In December, the ECHR's judgement stated: "The bans had been designed to eliminate the hunting and killing of animals for sport in a manner causing suffering and being morally objectionable."
This, it decided, was a reasonable and legitimate position for a Sovereign parliament to adopt after due process.
As for Mr Richey's argument that the police should be spending their time on keeping us all safe, I remind him that, unlike many other police forces, Devon & Cornwall Constabulary has brought no prosecutions under the Hunting Act.
Enforcement of this law requires only a small expenditure of police time because evidence of infringements is obtained and presented to the police by the league's professional and volunteer monitors.
IVOR ANNETTS League Against Cruel Sports, Tiverton
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by Ivor Annetts, Tiverton
Monday, January 18 2010, 10:45AM
“I have seen nothing in the recent comments to warrant further discussion.
It has all been said before. The points have all been answered before.
The fact remains that some people think it's OK to chase and kill wild animals for fun. The majority do not.
Over and out.”
by Peter Single, Axminster
Monday, January 18 2010, 9:22AM
“Norman says "...so Hunts are just exercising or Trial Hunting ..."
Where on earth do you get your facts from ?
The hunts near me are NOT trail hunting; they are hunting! They still kill animals (foxes, deer, hare etc), but they just call it 'trail hunting', and gullible people like you believe them.”
by Giles Bradshaw, Rose Ash
Sunday, January 17 2010, 7:08PM
“Ivor I am only 15 minutes down the road why don't you come to my farm and I will show you how deer can be managed using dogs in a completely welfare friendly and non lethal way.”
by NORMAN BRYANT, west sussex
Sunday, January 17 2010, 6:04PM
“Ivor I still question the Poll results unles they would like to show the types of people that were surveyed and the areas, I know for a fact that more are shot now by game keepers and others, it is a matter of Fox control but gives others the oppurtunity to ride and jump land that they would not be able to.
Will, a fit Fox is less likely to enter a chiken house or go for a new born lamb as they are able to catch other things ie rabbits etc, it is the older or more disformed that will go for these as they are an easier target, and yes a lot of people do go out for the ride and the chase and the Field might not even see a fox, but as we know at present Hunting a Fox has been banned so Hunts are just exercising or Trial Hunting which is never the same as Foxhunting”
by Will, Mid Devon
Sunday, January 17 2010, 12:00PM
“I would say that the majority of people expressing a view one way or the other are against fox hunting but, contrary to what Ivor Annetts says, there is a substantial number of people - myself included - who are not convinced either way, or for whatever reason have no strong view either way.
But if as Norman Bryant says "a fit Fox will normally evade the hounds" then the activity can't be justified on the grounds of pest control, can it, only on the grounds of maintaining a fit population by culling the less fit ones. But don't they dig out foxes that have gone to ground? - I don't know as I have never been on a fox hunt.
I think that people who support hunting should admit that most of them do not really care about pest control but enjoy a day out on horse-back carrying out a traditional activity and at the same time satisfying a hunting instinct.”