That the hunters are desperate is obvious, as a letter which has been circulated to pro hunt groups on FaceBook shows. It is a rally call for Vote OK supporters to deliver leaflets for Neil Carmichael in the marginal seat in Stroud, where they hope their efforts will secure a pro hunt Tory win. It is one of many rally calls across the country for a huge effort in the marginals where there is chance of returning an MP who will vote for repeal. David Cameron has already stated he will hold a free vote on repeal if the Tories are elected for a further term, and as Labour has promised to support the ban it’s no wonder the hunters are going all out to secure a Tory win. Page 23 of the Tory manifesto states,
Resources
http://b.3cdn.net/labouruk/e1d45da42456423b8c_vwm6brbvb.pdf http://www.league.org.uk/news-and-opinion/videos
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In summary, Mr Wooler found the RSPCA to be fulfilling its role as animal protectors. The report highlighted the unique remit of the RSPCA as a successful prosecuting animal welfare organisation, whose prosecutions team "enjoys good standing before the courts for the effective manner in which its cases are presented." While it also stated that the RSPCA operates in an "unstructured and haphazard” environment, the report also asserted that the Society is not only making a huge contribution to animal welfare, it is also "fulfilling a very significant constitutional role" whose contribution in terms of expertise and resources is huge and "simply too valuable to be lost.” Public support for the RSPCA was at an all-time high with people taking to Twitter and Face Book with unsolicited messages of encouragement. Below are just a few examples of the hundreds of unsolicited messages they received via Twitter and Facebook: “Let’s not forget, if the hunts didn’t keep breaking the law there’d be no need to prosecute them! Well done @RSPCA_official” “RSPCA I am so impressed with the recent campaigns and your brilliant work I am upping my donation!!! I am behind all recent decisions 100 PERCENT !!! Well done everyone !!!!” “Completely and 100% support @RSPCA_official. #dontlikeitdontfollowme” “I was absolutely disgusted to read such a biased, one-sided article. I hope they’re held to account for such misleading, damaging ‘journalism’. Well done to all of you for everything you do for animals.” “@RSPCA_official : money spent prosecuting law breaking animal abusers is money well spent!” “@MailOnline not printing comments in support of @RSPCA_official, hardly surprising from the biased, bitter journos on the daily fail!!” “@RSPCA_official RSPCA will be fine – back-stabbing and smearing part of today’s sad society.” This was last year, and for the first few months of 2015 the vitriol against the RSPCA seemed to die down. That is until the charity decided to prosecute the Cattistock hunt on film evidence provided by the IFAW. Unfortunately, the RSPCA decided to drop the case against the Dorset based Cattistock on the 18th of March 2015. The evidence upon which they built their case was supplied by IFAW, but with the Law being as it is at the present time, it was decided that the footage was not enough to secure a conviction. Look at the footage here and decide for yourself - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcQucQhxcv8 Hunts caught out breaking the law claim accidental hunting and these claims are hard to disprove at times. Accidental hunting is a loophole in the hunting Act, inserted by the pro hunt MPs when the legislation was going through the Commons. It is a ploy often used today when hounds are observed chasing foxes. Of course the Countryside Alliance is full of self-righteous indignation, with their campaigns manager accusing the RSPCA of a vendetta against law abiding hunts. Penny Little, the POWA monitor whose footage helped convict the Heythrop, described the situation as a complete and utter scandal. She went on to say that if the RSPCA is bullied in to not taking on hunting prosecutions it is tantamount to state-approved anarchy in the countryside. The RSPCA’s chief legal officer spoke of the society having to have ‘proportionality’, and agreed that the expense of prosecuting hunts and huntsmen for breaking the ban on hunting meant money wouldn’t be spent stopping cruelty to pets. The state of play at the moment is far from satisfactory. It is common knowledge that many hunts ride out every week with the express intention of hunting foxes in contravention of the law. The CPS and the police are less than enthusiastic and the animal charities against blood sports have their hands tied up the accidental hunting and research clauses in the Act. It seems clear however, that as long as hunters continue to train their dogs on fox scent, those dogs are going to chase and kill foxes if they are given the opportunity. Perhaps with a change of government in 2015, we can lobby to have the Act strengthened. It would be a good idea to remove the accidental hunting clause and stop the hunts using fox scent to train the dogs. The offence of hunting a wild mammal with a pack of dogs should carry a jail term and perhaps hunters riding out with a pack of killer dogs could be charged with going equipped to break the law. Sources: http://www.rspca.org.uk/webContent/staticImages/Downloads/WoolerReviewFinalSept2014.pdf http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/State-approved-anarchy-RSPCA-drops-hunt/story-22046038-detail/story.html http://www.countryside-alliance.org/ca/campaigns-hunting/rspca-drops-final-case-against-a-hunt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society_for_the_Prevention_of_Cruelty_to_Animals The attacks on innocent people whose only motivation is to save animal lives raises important questions about the demeanour and the motivation of the pro hunt thugs who regularly take the law into their own hands. Hunt saboteurs go out to save animal lives in the field. They are a brave group of men and women from all walks of life, who put their own safety on the line to save the lives of foxes, deer and hares. They work by spraying scent (usually citronella) to confuse the hounds and they employ voice and horn calls in an effort to call the dogs away from where it is thought a terrified fox may be hiding. They are not fighters, nor are they out to cause trouble.
When a fight breaks out it is usually because the hunters have called in their bully boys to deflect from illegal hunting which is wide spread across the UK. Often the riders use their horses as weapons, forcing the sabs on foot to run for their lives. Last year a young female sab was almost killed when she was ridden down and left lying where she fell. In spite of clear video footage of the incident, the CPS decided to drop the case citing insufficient evidence. Pre ban the violence against the saboteurs still existed but as hunting wasn’t illegal then and hunts had nothing to hide it was more push/shove and verbal confrontations. Today there is an organised anarchy to hunt heavies. Balaclava wearing hunt thugs turn up fully armed and ready and willing to cause grievous bodily harm. As the hunters all carry mobile phones and sometimes even radios, their brutish familiars are ever at their beck and call. At all cost the saboteurs must not be allowed to obtain footage of illegal hunting. The Countryside Alliance cannot fail to be aware of what is happening, yet there is no condemnation of the hunters’ bullying tactics. In fact, what is happening is a closing of ranks whilst the mouthpieces for that organisation attempt to vilify and negate the monitors and saboteurs. The pro hunting press are only too willing to print scurrilous accusations of the supposedly unwashed, punk era sabs who, they say, only go out because they hate to see ‘Toffs’ having a good time. Of course this is nonsense, and with very little effort, anyone can do an Internet search on hunt havoc and see for themselves who are the real bully boys. Animal bullies usually like hurting people too, and who better upon which to vent their aggression than a small group of ordinary men and women, some of whom are pensioners, who give up their free time to help the UK’s persecuted wildlife. The pro hunt lobby tries hard to label their opposition as terrorists whilst seeking to blacken the animal rights movement as a whole. A commentator for the Countryside Alliance even inferred that those against hunting don’t care about the animals, they are just looking for a fight. With the hunting set it is black or white, and they truly believe they have a God given right to slaughter animals at will. Yet it’s hard to believe they are so blinkered as to not see the anomalies in their own propaganda. It is the hunts themselves who cause the mayhem, it is they who provoke and start fights. The foot followers and quad bike riders act as hunting’s private army. This is the reality, this is what is happening out there in the British countryside today. The scurrilous attacks on social media are nothing short of libellous at times. People who are against hunting are regularly labelled paedophiles, fundamentalists, jobless scroungers, dirty thieves and even psychopaths. Face Book pages have been set up specifically to harass and intimidate. Whilst in the background the Countryside Alliance keeps up a steady stream of bilge with the sole intention of portraying the hunters as innocent victims of abuse and the sabs and monitors as the villains of the piece. Nothing could be further from the truth. It would seem the BBC is not above a bit of pro hunting support either. The recent Country File programme was heavily biased in favour of the hunting chocolate box image. It was suggested in more than one quarter that the programme makers were warned about showing hunting as it really is if they wished for cooperation in making future programmes. So, where does all this leave the issue of hunting with hounds? Ten years later and the fanatical animal killers are not going away any time soon. They try hard to make their sport wholesome but who honestly will believe that cornering a cowering, terrified fox and watching while it is torn to shreds is anything other than gross animal abuse. The sabs and monitors are in it for the long haul too and no matter what lies are told about them, or what physical and verbal intimidation they endure, they go out in their own time, using their own resources to save animals from callous, fanatical barbarians who are not above channelling their cruelty onto other humans too. Resources https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=838089872915115&set=vb.568176806573091&&theater http://www.westerngazette.co.uk/Police-probe-attack-hunt-clashes-Sherborne/story-26021643-detail/story.html http://www.westerngazette.co.uk/Hunt-saboteur-demands-CPS-reinvestigates-case/story-26059116-detail/story.html http://www.aminoritypastime.net/ https://nwhsa.wordpress.com/ |
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