HSA News Release 14th January 2008

Remember that hunting ban?

The Surrey Union foxhunt managed to kill yet again in public last Saturday 5th January. For the second year running they allowed their hounds to pursue and kill a fox in open view. Last year it was after trespassing on a golf course at Newdigate.. This time it was in Ockley, Surrey. The hounds chased a fox into the middle of the village and caught and disembowelled it in the centre of the cricket pitch. The police eventually turned up after a 999 call and took a statement from a bystander who witnessed the horrific scenes as the animal was ripped apart by a full pack of hounds.

This happens almost every day the length and breadth of the country, but usually safely away from public scrutiny.

Hunt Saboteurs have to witness such scenes week in and week out, nearly three years after the Hunting Act came into force. Not surprisingly, foxhunts in England feel they are above the law. The Surrey police present in three vehicles on Saturday were miles away from the hounds when the fox was killed. The hunt packed up straight away, leaving the carcass in the village.

Based on the previous treatment of numerous submissions of video evidence, the police investigation will lack the gravitas and scrutiny it deserves.

Lee Moon, spokesman for the Hunt Saboteurs Association said: “Foxes are hunted and killed as if the ban never came into effect. By laying a trail through fox habitat, or having an owl in a box, the hunts can kill with impunity.

We have tried to let the law work, but with the police not interested, and a paltry number of cases brought to court, it has to be the time for a return to direct intervention; to no longer put up with the cosy relationship the hunts seem to have with the local constabularies; to make sure the wildlife of this country is safe from the barbarous practices of the past.

Animals are protected from hunts by law, but if the law won’t help them then hunt sabs will have to.”

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ENDS