Hunting with dogs is simply no longer tolerated

From: Katherine Watson, Rushton Drive, Bramhall, Stockport, Cheshire.

SIX years after the Hunting Act came into force, is it not time for the pro-hunt minority to accept that using dogs to hound wild animals for sport is no longer tolerated?

The plethora of suspect hunting and hunt havoc incidents this season clearly casts doubts over claims to “only trail hunt”.

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In December, hounds were seen chasing an animal in the Aberford area of Leeds with badger setts blocked.

Not only is the blocking of badger setts an offence under the Badgers Act, but it is clear evidence of intention to hunt foxes illegally.

When underground escape routes are blocked, the fox has to run for its life until it is exhausted and succumbs to a violent mauling by hounds, tearing fatally into its chest and abdomen.

When a Birmingham dog owner recently let bull terrier-type dogs subject a quiet banzai to a similar attack, he was arrested and his dogs removed.

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The Hunting Act makes deliberate hunting of wild animals an offence, but the attitude of having some kind of “right” to persecute them for what amounts to sport persists.

In fact 150 individuals have been convicted under the Act, and 76 per cent of the population support the ban on fox hunting.

How likely are MPs, with a majority still opposed to live animal hunting, to vote for a venture to legalise hunting of wild animals to provide “a good day out”?

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