Countryside prepares for another hunting battle

Twenty years ago this month, hunting acts ordered that animals that live with hounds be banned.

Now, the countryside is supporting itself for another battle with the government, claiming it will fulfill the manifesto pledge to ban trail hunting.

Tim Bonner, the head of the Countryside Alliance Campaign Group, says it is “candidly extraordinary” that it has chosen to return to an issue where labor is “unrelated to 99% of the population.”

But many Labour, Liberal Democrats and Rep. Greene argue that current laws are not working and need to be strengthened.

Trail hunting is considered by many in the countryside as an acceptable alternative to fox hunting.

Instead of chasing animals, hounds follow the scent of foxes and rabbits. If an actual fox is found, the hound must be cancelled.

Hunting groups insist they follow the law, but animal rights activists say Fox is still being killed.

The league against cruel sports said there have been 23 reports of the Fox being chased since August, as well as 41 reports of hunts wreaking havoc in the eastern part of England.

A spokesman for the British Hound Sports Association accused the league of “spreading unverified claims to match its agenda.”

Bonner told the BBC Politics East programme that Labour is wasting time in question.

“When you ask people how government priorities should be in the countryside and elsewhere, no one will raise this issue,” he argued.

“There is no logic in this proposal. There is a law and it works perfectly well based on all the evidence we have.”

Between 2005 and 2021, 573 people were successfully prosecuted under the Hunting Act. Bonner said only a small number of people in the hunt are the majority for poaching.

“The Labour Party cannot abandon this issue,” he said.

“Hunting is still there, and it is clearly a shaming for some of the animal rights movement and some of the Labour Party, and they are not happy until there is no hunting.”

Alice McDonald, a Labour MP for Norwich North, argued that Labor is not obsessed with the issue and that the ban on hunting is not its top priority.

“But there is evidence that the actions are not working, the animals are injured, and public opinion has changed,” she said.

“We’re excited to see you all know what we’re doing,” said Adrien Ramsay, co-leader and MP of the Green Party of New Country Waveney Valley Seat, which spans the Norfolk/Suffolk border.

“There’s an alternative. You can finish trail hunting and allow drug hunting where various types of scents are used.”

The exchange of BBC Politics East is a sign of debate that comes when the government publishes its proposal.

Euan Nicolson is a senior master of the Suffolk Hounds riding in the Newmarket area.

“Hunting has evolved since the ban 20 years ago. We follow the trails, the hounds love it, the followers love it, and it’s a really important part of the country community,” he said.

“We have always been given permission from the land owner and do not go across the land and pursue wildlife.

“It’s always possible (the fox can get harmed), but the hunting is coordinated and protocols are managed in place. Our Huntsman has a very disciplined pack .return.

“I don’t know why trail hunting is attracting all this attention.”

“The League’s Director of Communications for Cruel Sports,” said Mike Nicholas, league’s director of communications for cruel sports.

“The hunt still ignores the ban. We know that in the countryside, away from public gaze, the hunt is chasing and killing foxes.

“We also see behavior that is completely inconsistent with trail hunting. Hunting in rail lines and people’s backyards… Disastrous reports of killing people’s cats and dogs.

“Trail hunting is a deception to deceive the public, the police and the courts. It’s a smokescreen and it’s time to strengthen the laws of fox hunting.”

Politics East is located at BBC One at 10:00 GMT on Sundays and is available on BBC Iplayer.