Thousands turn out for Boxing Day hunts amid calls for ban to be lifted
THOUSANDS have turned out for traditional Boxing Day hunts today amid calls for restrictions on the sport to be lifted.
We have passed a law which is an ass
Around 250 meets are taking place today, with some pursuing an artificial scent and others hunting within the law under the 2004 Hunting Act.
The rules allow a maximum of two dogs to flush out the fox so it can be shot.
But farmers have complained of heavy losses to livestock since the restrictions were implemented and argue that pest control measures permitted under the Act are not sufficient.
Prime Minister David Cameron said he has "sympathy" with calls for the rules to be loosened and supporters of foxhunting are pushing for a new vote on the ban, which had been promised by the coalition Government following the 2010 general election.
Sir Nick Harvey, a former Liberal Democrat defence minister, and MP for North Devon, argued the law "cannot remain where it is" for much longer as it is unenforceable.
He told the Guardian: "We have passed a law which is an ass.
"It is a law that cannot be implemented. It could only be implemented with a ridiculous distortion of policing priorities.
It worries me that in very rural communities where the long arm of the law has difficulty in reaching at the best of times, young people see a well-known and quite controversial piece of law which can be and is broken with impunity.
"You wonder what message this sends to them about drink-driving and other laws."
But a survey carried out by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the League Against Cruel Sports and the RSPCA, found 80 per cent of the public want to keep the law, with support equally strong in both rural and urban areas.
Joe Duckworth, chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said a new vote would be "political suicide".
He said: "Hunting is a sickeningly cruel blood sport, which, like us, the majority of the British public do not want brought back.
"Voting for repeal would be political suicide. We need to move forward as a nation, not backwards on matters of animal welfare, which is why we recently launched our national 'No Joke' online and cinema campaign to remind people of the sheer horror and animal cruelty hiding behind the 'traditional spectacle'."