Tag: Foxes

UK Moves Closer to Ban on Fox Hunting with Dogs

In July the House of Commons rejected a compromise bill that would have placed strict controls on the hunting of foxes with dogs. Instead by an overwhelming majority of 362-154, the House approved an amendment that would create a ban on fox hunting with dogs.

In an effort to distance himself from the Labor Party’s earlier promises, Tony Blair and other shad been pushing a fox hunting bill that would have placed a number of restrictions on such hunting, but would have stopped short of a total ban. But at the last minute the government backed away and withdrew its proposed compromise amendment.

As in the past, the bill now goes to the House of Lords which will almost certainly reject it as it has rejected previous bans.

This time around, however, the House of Commons will attempt to use the Parliament Act to override the House of Lords. To do so, the bill will have to pass in two successive sessions of parliament. At this point, that seems to be a forgone conclusion, though Peers in the House of Lords will apparently try to stretch out as long as possible their consideration of the ban to postpone as much as possible its eventual passage.

Source:

MPs back hunting ban. The BBC, July 1, 2003.

No More Hunting With Hounds?. Associated Press, July 1, 2003.

Ministers expect ban in force by early next year. Marie Woolf and Andrew Grice, The Independent (London), July 2, 2003.

Hunt Ban Opponents Threaten Illegal Actions

Some individuals in favor of fox hunting in Great Britain are threatening a campaign of illegal actions in response to the recently passed ban on fox hunting that will likely phase out the practice by 2005.

The Observer cites former Countryside Alliance executive Edward Duke who is now at the helm of the Real Countryside Alliance, a breakaway group of the Countryside Alliance, which is threatening such actions.

The Observer quotes Duke as saying,

It will be spectacular. We will target backbench MPs, block in their cars, chant in their surgeries and heckle them wherever they go. We will target government offices, county halls and Parliament. There will be transportation blockages — we have all learnt from the French lorry drivers.

As if there isn’t already enough extremism centered around animal issues in the UK.

Credit goes to Countryside Action Network head Janet George, however, who tells The Observer that her group wants no part of any acts of violence,

There is quite a serious risk that a few hotheaded individuals are going to do something damn stupid. People are so angry. But I think it would be a disaster for the hunting cause if it were to happen.

According to The Observer, however, her group is likely to engage in traffic stoppages.

Sources:

Hunt activists to hound ministers . Stuart Millar, The Guardian, July 5, 2003.

Pro-hunt extremists threaten to wreck reservoirs and railways. Anushka Asthana and Paul Harris, The Observer, July 6, 2003.

Two Men Charged Under Scotland's Fox Hunt Ban

Two Scottish huntsmen became the first to be charged with violating Scotland’s ban on fox hunting. Trevor Adams and Rory Innes were charged in April with violating the law by hunting with dogs.

Adams was charged for his participation in an October 2002 hunt, while Innes was charged for taking part in a hunt that took place in March 2003. Both men were prominent opponents of the Scottish fox hunting ban, and both claim their respective hunts were legal under the requirements of the new law that went into effect in August 2002.

A provision of that law allows foxes to be shot for pest control purposes, and additionally allows hounds to be used to kill a wounded fox.

Les Ward of Advocates for Animals, which supported the ban on fox hunting, told The Guardian that, “We’ve known in the last few months that many of the hunts have been sailing close to the wind.”

The Scotsman reported that in September 2002 Adams said that his Bucleuch hunt had used hounds to kill several foxes but always within the bounds of the law. “That is our interpretation of the act and the local police seem happy about it,” Adams said.

Sources:

Fox hunt masters facing charges over kills. Paul Gallagher, The Scotsman, April 29, 2003.

Huntsmen charged under Scottish ban. Gerard Seenan, The Guardian, April 30, 2003.

Wisconsin Legislator Introduces Bill to Allow Training of Hounds with Bobcats, Coyotes and Foxes

Wisconsin state Rep. Scott Suder drew the wrath of animal rights activists for introducing a bill that would allow hunting dogs to be trained with captive bobcats, coyotes, and foxes. Currently Wisconsin allows hound owners to train their dogs with live captive rabbits, raccoons, and black bears.

Cynthia Lott of the Alliance for Animals told The Capital Times that the proposal was little more than a canned hunt bill,

This legislation is almost like ‘canned hunting’ under the pretense of dog training. It’s really inhumane.

She was joined in that opinion by retired chief of special operations for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Tom Solin, who wrote a letter saying,

Allowing the use of captive coyote, fox and bobcats to train hound dogs is brutal and far below the high standards we set in Wisconsin to ensure captive wild animals are treated humanely.

For his part, Suder told The Capital Times that this bill simply restored rights that hound owners possessed until the legislature passed the Captive Wildlife Bill in 2002. Suder told The Capital Times,

There was a mistake in the bill. The ability to train with those types of animals was left out. I am trying to restore it. I am not expanding.

State Rep. DuWayne Johnsrud, who was involved in the development of Wisconsin’s Captive Wildlife Bill, says that is not true, and since he chairs the committee through which Suder’s bill would have to pass before being considered by the legislature, it is unlikely to receive serious attention anytime soon.

The full text of Suder’s proposed legislation can be read here.

Source

‘Canned hunting’ bill vexes opponents. Anita Weir, The Capital Times (Wisconsin), April 4, 2003.

Animal Rights Extremist Jailed in the UK

Animal rights extremist Sonia Hayward, 35, was sentenced in March to 15 months in jail after pleading guilty to charges of destruction of property and harassment.

The charges stemmed from two separate incidents from different animal rights campaigns.

The more serious crime, which drew a 15 month sentence, was that Hayward drove an accomplice to the home of Timothy Allington at least twice so that the accomplice could throw rocks and bricks at the windows. Allington was so concerned about his safety that he hired private security guards and had a security system installed in his house.

Not surprisingly, Hayward seems to have targeted Allington on bad information. She incorrectly believed that Allington, who used to be the managing director of a pharmaceutical firm, was somehow connected to Huntingdon Life Sciences. The story of Hayward’s capture is somewhat amusing. One of the bricks that was thrown at the Allington’s home had a piece of paper tied around it, presumably with a written message. The only problem as the paper this braintrust used was her own gas bill, which made tracking her down relatively easy.

Hayward also drew a 2 month sentence for a campaign of harassment she carried out against female hunters during the summer of 2001. Hayward compiled the names and phone numbers of seven female members of three hunt clubs, and then created what the Press Association described as “prostitute calling cards” listing the women’s personal information. Hayward then left the cards in phone booths, and some of the women received phone calls from men soliciting sex based on the cards.

Police discovered sheets of uncut cards when they raided her home in August 2001 as part of their investigation of the property damage at Allington’s home.

Her two prison sentences will run concurrently and she will likely be out of jail sometime in July 2003. In sentencing her, Judge David Mitchell said,

This was a campaign against Mr. Allington in the mistaken belief that he had some connection with Huntingdon Life Sciences. It shows how people who take matters into their own hands can be gravely mistaken.

A person is entitled to feel safe in his or her home. If a person cannot feel safe in his or her own home, where can they feel safe?

Mr. Allington suffered such a nervous worry for himself and his family that he was in constant fear of attack. You are just as guilty as the person who got out and threw the rocks.

The Press Association story on the sentencing did not mention the status of the investigation of the person who threw the rocks. Judge Mitchell did warn Hayward that any future arrests for animal rights-related crimes would likely bring her a longer sentence (we can only hope).

That could prove a problem as Haward has a history of being arrested at animal rights protests. She was arrested and fined 120 pounds in 2000 after being arrested at a protest at a facility that raised monkeys for medical research.

Source:

Animal activist jailed for harassment campaign. Simon Baker, The Press Association, March 20, 2003.

Case against photographer is dropped. Phil Dennett, This is Mid Sussex, October 6, 2000.

Man Who Had Fox Shot by Police Receives Threats, Harassment

A British man whose son was allegedly bitten by a fox has faced harassment and threats after he had police shoot and kill the fox in question.

Peter Day, 45, made news in Great Britain in February when a fox apparently entered his home and attacked his 10 month old son, Louis. Day called in a pest control specialist who trapped and killed the fox. Day lives in an area where residents have made numerous complaints about the rather sizable fox population.

Day and his partner, Sue Eastwood, came under criticism from animal experts who maintained that a healthy fox would never enter a residential home and attack an infant (though some experts did allow that an injured or diseased animal might engage in such behavior).

Since reporting the attack and having the animal trapped and killed, Day says he has been confronted repeatedly by people who believe he and his partner made the whole story up, and recently received a letter calling him and his partner an “odious, lying, self-serving manipulative scumbags” and threatening to firebomb his car and smash the windows in his home.

The pest control specialist who trapped the animal was also sent a copy of the letter.

Source:

Fox-hater’s family gets letter threats. Toby Nation, This Is London, February 25, 2003.