As more than 200 Boxing Day hunt meets took place across the UK, campaigners turned out in force, wearing fox masks and brandishing signs as they called for tougher laws to keep foxes safe.
BASIT MAHMOOD: ‘Animal rights campaigners are condemning the Boxing Day hunts taking place across the country, calling for tougher laws to ‘stop the killing of foxes for fun’. As more than 200 Boxing Day hunt meets took place across the UK, campaigners turned out in force, wearing fox masks and brandishing signs as they called for tougher laws to keep foxes safe. Thousands turned out to support the hunts, with the most popular being Heythrop Hunt in Oxfordshire, which saw an estimated 5,000 people lining the route in Chipping Norton.
Despite the large support, the League Against Cruel Sports says that it will do all it can do ‘end fox hunting for good’. Chris Luffingham, director of campaigns at the League Against Cruel Sports, said: ‘As they parade today in their gaudy finery, fox hunts will be facing the fact that, with their political support gone, hunting is history. ‘Their 14-year campaign to repeal the fox hunting ban hasn’t got a snowball’s chance in hell of success’.
The charity is also calling for prison sentences for those convicted of fox hunting, which it says would act as a ‘strong deterrent’. Fox hunting was banned in England and Wales following the introduction of the Hunting Act 2004 – which came into force a year later. However, drag hunting – where hounds are trained to follow an artificial scent – is permitted under the legislation’. SOURCE…
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