Agricultural Minister thinks that the hunting ban should be repealed...

[malakadoush]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16331762?postId=111273844#comment_111273844

Interesting slant - people are ignoring the law, the police aren't policing it - so lets scrap it!

Hmmm...

It was very badly drawn up legislation, that quickly proved unpoliceable.

This particular Act should certainly be scrapped. No reason why one couldn't tie in the scrapping of this useless Act with the introduction of a different one.

I agree - replace it, but that isn't what Jim Paice is suggesting:

"I personally am in favour of hunting with dogs - and the coalition agreement clearly states that we will have a free vote on whether to repeal the act when there is time in the parliamentary calendar to do so."

Then one must hope that MPs will represent the views of their constituents, so far as they can be ascertained.

The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.

another option would be to enforce the law as it stands which I don't think is entirely impossible. At least I think it would be worth making a serious effort

I don't see why the hunting ban has caused as much controversy as it has over the years, I would of thought it affects very few people and frankly most people couldn't care less whether its legal or not.

I agree ZZ - why is it so difficult, surely with the use of local intelligence they could pinpoint those hunts that were actually hunting to kill. And it would only take a couple of high profile prosecutions to stop the majority of those flouting the law.

I don't see many other laws ignored by the police in this way!

I am happy for people to hunt with dogs as long as they are only following a scent trail. Fox hunting is despicable and, as there are more humane ways of dealing with foxes, I think it should be banned.

I live in a rural area where they continue to hunt, but I can't understand the bloodlust of people who want to see a fox torn apart by a pack of dogs.

The Tories are in power they never wanted it banned in the first place and they don't want to enforce it. is it really any surprise to anyone?.

It was a silly law in the first place. Based on incorrect prejudice i.e 'it's something only toffs do', rather than any kind of public demand or social requirement. Rural communities need much better protection and policing from serious criminals who have a free hand a lot of the time to steal and destroy. Think we should put people and property first rather than sending policemen out chasing hunters.

I remain unconvinced that hunting employs that many people. I can think of other industries that have, in the past, employed far more people - mining, the steel industry, other manufacturing. Why do hunt supporters think that a bloodthirsty sport is far more worthy than the aforementioned industries?

Cogito maybe the police could stop spending so much time/resource with speed cameras doing motorists for doing 5 or 10 miles over the limit and instead protect and police rural communities - which should include prosecuting those breaking the hunting laws.

I've always been very about hunting with dogs - I mean, if it's such a bloody marvellous way of controlling pests then why was it only done in England? Was the rest of Europe overrun with feral foxes doing whatever they pleased? Errr no, it wasn't.

This is just the Tories trying to please their backers. I agree that the current law is a mess, but it needs replacing with something better, not scrapping.

Ah yes, I remember the Tories marching to save the car factories, and the steelworks, and the coalmines, because of the employment and sense of local and national identity they gave.

Oh no, my mistake.

Well, how do we feel about supporting other traditional country pursuits, like badger-baiting and cockfighting?

Or sheep shagging :-)

PigletJohn rocks

Just ban it completely..... no hunting with dogs at all. That way there will be no confusion. Jim Paice has several high profile links with the Countryside Alliance so his view is hardly impartial

Which is why it is so worrying that he is responsible for this.

The powers that be should retrain traffic wardens and make it police able.

It's not something we should be worrying too much about - between 70 & 80% of people, depending on who & how you ask, are firmly against.

So no repeal on the cards.

The degree to which it continues is appalling & the cruel buggers should certainly be brought to book; but equally, if I were a fox, I'd have much more to worry about crossing the road, which is the highest cause of mortality in adult foxes.

Probably safe to assume that a) it will remain illegal b) a tiny minority of stupid scumbags will continue to torture relatively small numbers of animals to death for fun with a fair degree of impunity c) there are more pressing animal welfare issues to get upset about, tbh...

I do think that foxhunting is abhorrent - but the last few dickheads doing it are like the last few smokers the pub landlord has to hassle to go outside...in 20 years it'll seem totally bizarre that they thought that their behaviour was in anyway acceptable.

DonkeyEars - actually it used to be very popular on the continent, but got banned by a chap they had in charge over there for a while called Adolf Hitler. Very hot on animal rights, he was.

clawed everyone has redeeming features. It speaks volumes that no-one bothered to bring it back post WW2...

It was a badly written act that took up a ridiculous amount of parliamentary time. The cynical might say it was so badly written intentionally, to allow hunts to continue while vaguely appeasing the nutters in PETA etc. It is long overdue for scrapping.

People say there are kinder ways to control the fox population. In my view, snaring and poisoning are without a doubt more cruel. Shooting has the potential to be more cruel as well. (There are exceptions to this). Hunting with hounds is also the only SELECTIVE method which takes out the old and the weak- the most likely to prey on domestic animals.

I speak as a vegetarian.

hunting to hounds is one of the cruelest ways to kill an animal, that is why Britain is one of the only countries that do it. In other countries gamekeepers do it using shotguns, they actually know what they are doing. And besides it is not uncommon in the UK for foxes to be taken to an area, and false sets set up for it especially for the hunt if there are no foxes in the area, so it is not about population control and nor is it just a random fox that they hunt.
As far as I am aware, please correct me if I am wrong, it is still legal to actually use dogs in the hunt, but just not to kill the fox, so birds of prey are often used. That says a lot about the mentality of those who participate. If other countries manage without this sort of cruelty why is the UK so different? The ban should be extended to stop people using dogs and birds of prey, and the police and CPS should actually do their job and arrest and prosecute those involved in continuing the hunts. They manage it with things like lamping and badger baiting, and dog fighting so why do they not manage it with fox hunting.
I imagine if a bunch of skinheads in hoodies started riding across the countryside on bikes chasing foxes with pitbulls and then beating the fox to death with a crowbar the agricultural minister would not be so supportive.

Well said Jade80, all true. I am a foxhunter and meat eating is far crueller than hunting with hounds! Kelly2000, you are totally wrong, it is NOT HUMANE TO SHOOT A FOX WITH A SHOTGUN. (I hunt and shoot so have no axe to grind). They can be shot with the correct calibre of rifle, but due to the nature of the fox this can still easily leave the animal wounded to die of gangrene. Hunting is the method that either gives a quick kill or allows the quarry to escape. Many other countries still hunt live quarry including France & the USA. The Hunting Act is impossible to enfoce and has made a laughing stock of the law. The way that statute normally works in a democracy is by having the consent of those it affects. The Hunting Act seems unique in not having this consent from the only people it affects. I fully expect the Hunting Act to be repealed in due course and am proud of the way that UK hunts are operating in the mean time. The vast majority of farmers and landowners back hunting, if they did not, the sport would not be allowed to continue. My hunting friends include vets, grooms, holiday kennel owners, dog rescuers and farmers, we would not hunt if we thought it was cruel.