Twisted logic to defend hunting
I AM sure I am not alone in thinking that hunting apologist Giles Bradshaw has completely lost the plot with his long-running and convoluted attempts to defend the killing of wild animals for sport, conducted in these pages and elsewhere.
His latest offering, Letters, October 31, which bizarrely accuses hunt saboteurs of having acted against the interests of wildlife when attempting to flush foxes from cover before the arrival of the hounds, is really quite extraordinary.
Quite clearly, the actions of the hunt saboteurs in these cases was to prevent foxes being pursued for sport by clearing them from the immediate area of the hunt.
Mr Bradshaw's twisted logic would have the hunt saboteurs prosecuted for not having killed the foxes they flushed —in accordance with the Hunting Act.
He returns time and time again to the wording of the Act in hypothetical situations or when it is clear to everyone that the intention of the Act was to end the pursuit of wild animals — including deer and hares not just foxes — by organised hound packs for the purposes of sport.
However, I am no longer sure whether Giles Bradshaw is not simply driven by a self-seeking desire to demonstrate to anyone who will listen what a clever chap he is by his displays of semantic dexterity.
Well, he can argue his singular interpretation of the Hunting Act until he is blue in the face, but the fact remains that the majority of people in this country abhor the killing of wild animals for sport and a letter by Graham Forsyth, on the same page as Giles Bradshaw's drivel, was headlined Cruelty to animals, for sport or entertainment, remains a crime, — there we have it in a nutshell.
The hours spent and the thousands and thousands of words emanating from the pen of Mr Bradshaw will not change this and I am tempted to suggest that his antics should make him a prime candidate for a part in the popular TV series Farmer Needs a Life!
Dr John P Salvatore
Clyst Heath
Exeter
4 Comments
by Giles Bradshaw, Rose Ash
Wednesday, April 07 2010, 7:49AM
“Al,
You yourself have acknowledged that the Hunting Act is full of flaws.
Contavting my MP and getting him to write to a minister is a perfectly proper channel as is writing to a newspaper.
There is nothing wrong with campaigning on political issues.”
by junkers99, Kent
Tuesday, April 06 2010, 6:51PM
“'In my opinion it is not my logic that is twisted, but that which Government ministers use to defend the absurd strictures of the Hunting Act.'
No surprise there, then.
Does it matter that Mr Fitzpatrick is 'Glaswegian'? He would only have written to Mr Bradshaw in response to a letter written to him first. Let's establish that fact.
'He does not appear to see anything wrong with this. I do. Government ministers such as Jim Fitzpatrick, and his boss Hillary Benn, lack the integrity and courage to come clean and admit the failings of the Hunting Act.'
Is Mr Bradshaw serious. Does he honestly think that he can single handedly change any law in this country? No government listens to the electorate, let alone the opposition. Why, then, would they listen to an individual with an axe to grind? If Mr Bradshaw is serious about having his voice heard, would it not be better to petition the government and go through the proper channels and cease to occupy so much of this and other pages, and his own time in this solitary campaign?”
by Giles Bradshaw, rose ash
Tuesday, April 06 2010, 4:45PM
“In my opinion it is not my logic that is twisted, but that which Government ministers use to defend the absurd strictures of the Hunting Act.
It's worth detailing the view of Jim Fitzpatrick ¿ our farming Minister, and ex-Glaswegian fireman, who clearly does not have a clue about the countryside.
Mr Fitzpatrick wrote to me confirming that if one did wish to comply with the flushing-out exemption one was required to shoot the flushed-out mammals.
His justification was that it prevented the exemption being used as an excuse to chase and/or kill the flushed-out animal with dogs. This is mind-bogglingly stupid.
It's illegal to chase and kill wild mammals with dogs.
If people are going to do that then they are hardly going to obey the law and shoot them as soon as they are flushed out.
The only people that would shoot the animals would be the law-abiding ones and they would stop their dogs killing them anyway.
The Labour grassroots anti-hunt group Support the Hunting Act (Ban) UK, has extensive discussion of the flushing exemption and the requirement to kill animals.
The group's organiser, Gary Hills, claims this requirement was forced onto the statute book by pro-hunt lords.
He claims no one in the anti-hunt movement supports it, but that Labour is powerless to remove the requirement to kill animals from the Hunting Act without Lords reform.
He says ministers have to defend the wording of the law ¿ implying they don't actually support it either.
He does not appear to see anything wrong with this. I do. Government ministers such as Jim Fitzpatrick, and his boss Hillary Benn, lack the integrity and courage to come clean and admit the failings of the Hunting Act.”
by junkers99, Kent
Monday, April 05 2010, 5:17PM
“Very well put Mr Salvatore.
Having read a few of Mr Bradshaw's letters, I understand that he is not actually a farmer and has what he describes as a 'hobby farm', Whatever that means. This law that he complains endlessly, obsessively, even, about, is for the lawyers of the land to interpret, as Mr Bradshaw himself, has stated that it can be interpreted in lots of ways.
May I suggest he puts his time to better use than constantly writing letters to these,and other, pages. I remember very well, a letter he had written about so called 'intraguild predation'. So, not only is Mr Bradshaw trying to act as a lawyer, but a biologist too, now.
He openly states that foxes have evolved to be predated by larger carnivores. Now, I'm no biologist, but that is just ridiculous. No animal has evolved to be eaten, rather, I think, it is the other way around, and animals evolve around the food they eat. I suggest Mr Bradshaw goes back to the biology drawing board.”