March 2002

(*)- added since last update

Scotland on Sunday 31.3.02 DUNCAN HAMILTON: The choice facing Holyrood: reform or stagnate - Duncan Hamilton is SNP MSP for the Highlands and Islands ... It is a good system but we need to make it work better. Take the vexed passage of the fox-hunting bill as a case in point... I sat on the rural affairs committee and along with colleagues from all parties read and listened to weeks of evidence. A majority of my colleagues on the committee felt the evidence did not justify the legislation and the committee recommended the bill should not be passed. This part of the process was a massive step forward from Westminster - a credit to our new institution. Parliament then rejected this recommendation and voted for the bill. In doing so, it rejected the conclusions reached in the pre-legislative scrutiny and raised a question as to whether the current system contains the necessary checks and balances to ensure robust and effective scrutiny of legislation. Irrespective of whether you supported or opposed the bill, it is a lamentable piece of legislation. If it is the will of parliament that we ban fox-hunting, then fine; but so badly drafted was this bill that after the vote MSPs were still unclear as to whether hunting had indeed been technically banned... story

Sunday Telegraph 31.3.02 The hunt goes on - YOU were wrong to suggest that the New Forest Draghunt has collapsed (Report, March 24). It will continue to hunt in the New Forest but on private land... I explained to your reporter that I have withdrawn from drag-hunting on the New Forest for reasons of health and safety and because Commoners do not want it. Michael Thomas, Master, New Forest Draghunt, Harbridge, Hampshire (letter)

Scotland on Sunday 31.3.02 Storm in the water over new super trout - FRANK HURLEY - A BREED of genetically-modified ‘super trout’ is being introduced to Scottish lochs and ponds to cut down on the annual cost of restocking fish... People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is opposed to any form of fishing. Spokeswoman Dawn Carr said yesterday: "What they are doing is encouraging interference with nature simply for the so-called fun of impaling a trout in the mouth and dragging it through the water.... (story)

Times 30.3.02 Where next for Lord Mancroft? Pro-hunting peer - TOM CHESSHYRE - q/a interview (story)

Times 30.3.02 Hunting Lords ... I was staggered to hear Lord Whitty, the Food and Rural Affairs Minister, on Radio 4’s Farming Today this morning blame a handful of “hereditary hunters” for scuppering the Government’s controversial Animal Health Bill... Is blaming the supporters of hunting whenever something goes the wrong way for this urban-biased Government the shape of things to come?... MARK SANDERS, 5-6 The Crescent, Taunton, Somerset TA1 4EA. (letter)

Guardian 30.3.02 Ministers seek compromise on hunting - Anne Perkins, political correspondent - Ministers are still working on a compromise over fox hunting despite the huge majority of MPs voting that it should be banned. The rural affairs minister, Alun Michael, told the Guardian: "The class war on red coats and mounted followers needs to be put on one side. I don't want a bill representing the views of one interest group. What I want is a practical and effective piece of legislation."... Mr Michael said the alliance's plans for a march - which it launched after his statement last week - were "not terribly helpful". He said the alliance would have an opportunity to contribute to thinking on the government's legislation, and so would those in favour of a ban.... (story)

Times 30.3.02 Gathering views on foxhunting - FROM LORD DONOUGHUE AND OTHERS - Sir, The Government’s statement on how the hunting issue is to be handled, following the debates in both Houses last week, includes reference to a six-month consultation period... The establishment of a joint select committee of both Houses, which would call for evidence and take evidence in public, would give the consultative period a framework most likely to command public confidence.... BERNARD DONOUGHUE, (Minister for Farming, 1997-99), ALEX CARLILE, CARRINGTON, CRAIG of RADLEY, Bishop JOHN HEREFORD, DOUGLAS HURD, KING of BRIDGWATER, IVOR RICHARD, House of Lords. March 28. (letter)

Western Morning News 30.3.02 HUNT SABOTEUR CLAIMS HER CAR WAS ATTACKED - ROBERT JOBSON - A hunt saboteur has complained to police that her car was severely damaged in a country lane by three men wielding a pick-axe, an iron bar and a hammer… She alleged her Vauxhall Astra was ambushed by men who jumped out of a van on Wednesday after a day's hunting involving the Cury and Western Hunts… The woman phoned the WMN yesterday to say that she was called Jo and lived in Somerset but said that she preferred not to give any further details… Ben Sparrow, Master of the Western Hunt, said… "I saw hunt saboteurs, including a Cornwall woman with a tape recorder. Because she has no local support, she has to get them down from Somerset.".. (story)

Lincolnshire Echo 30.3.02 RIDER DIES AT HUNT - There was a largely attended meet of the Burton and Rufford Hunts, the latter attending by invitation, at Langworth on Saturday. Unfortunately, at the very outset, the day's pleasure was marred by a serious accident. Mr. Hebb, of Goltho, well-known in Wragby and district was thrown from his horse... Yesterday morning Mr. Hebb lost consciousness and in the afternoon passed quietly away... (story)

Western Daily Press 30.3.02 A NEW SLANT ON THE HUNT PROPAGANDA - How wonderful it must have been for letter writer "Name and Address Supplied" to stroll through the countryside and see 14-year-olds with guns shooting everything that moved... (letter)

Western Daily Press 30.3.02 WE'RE PLEASED TO LIVE IN EXMOOR TIMEWARP - I took exception to the letter on feudal Exmoor. I have lived on Exmoor for 53 years.Yes, you could say we are in a timewarp, if caring and helping and feeling relatively safe are apparently things of the past. As regards Mrs Ballard, she might have been a good MP for the town, but we in the country, who of course don't matter, felt we were without an MP... Also would someone please tell me what is a kind way to kill a fox? I have seen a fox shot and it didn't look that pleased. (letter)
Western Daily Press 26.3.02 EXMOOR'S STILL FEUDAL FOR JACKIE - I was very interested to see Jackie Ballard's comments in your paper recently... Hunting people did treat Mrs Ballard in a very extraordinary and savage fashion.... Name and address supplied. (letter)

Worcester Evening News 30.3.02 What does this say about MPs? I REALLY cannot believe what I have just witnessed on Westminster Live (Thursday, March 21). I was anxious to hear the next saga that this Government had in store for us persecuted country folk when I was confronted with Tony Banks' comments about the legalisation of drugs.... AUDREY STEEL, Inkberrow (letter in archive)

Cambridge News 30.3.02 Don't ban fox hunting From Robert Sturdy MEP, St Neots Road, Hardwick ... This proposed attack on a way of life is not an animal welfare issue (about which I care deeply), but an attack on the environment and rural economy from vocal urban lobbyists....
From Harriet Thurston High Street, Chesterton - FOX hunting should not be banned. Foxes are cruel to other animals and anyone who doesn't like fox hunting does not have to do it. It is part of a tradition in British country life...
From Pat Griffin, Bakers Lane, Linton - THE argument for a total ban on hunting with dogs was won by the vast majority of the British public many years ago... (letters may be in archive)

ThisIsDevon (Exeter Express & Echo, Torquay Herald Express, Western Morning News, North Devon Journal, Plymouth Evening Herald) 30.3.02 LABOUR GOVERNMENT IS SHOWING INCOMPETENCE ... Hours were spent discussing a ban on hunting. Within a few hours, authorised by Tony Blair and presumably backed by the Cabinet, 1,700 troops were committed to a highly dangerous operation, where significant casualties can be expected. Yet when Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon made a statement on this important matter to the House, not one Cabinet minister was present. As for Mr Blair, who authorised the operation, he was absent, meeting Labour MPs to discuss hunting.... Gordon F Edwards, Third Avenue, Heavitree, Exeter (letter)

Nottingham Evening Post 30.3.02 NOTHING COMPARES WITH ATROCITIES OF HUMANS - R. Streets (Letters, March 20) claims the fox population will increase if hunting is banned. This isn't true. Hunts encourage the fox to breed by not hunting during the breeding season. Indeed, some hunts build earths for them to breed in!.. . In the words of Jesus Christ: "If you have men who exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men." MRS M. A. THOMPSON Farleys Lane Hucknall
Royalty, aristocracy, wealthy landowners supported by elements of the "intelligentsia" such as John Mortimer and Baroness Mallalieu. When the Commons votes against their privileges they turn to the unelected Lords to overrule the will of the people... NORMAN ELSDON Oakdale Road Carlton
Like Andrew Saunders saying foxes don't kill fowl and lambs. I've seen it. I lived in the country for years. At one place I worked they had between 30 and 50 hens. The fox visited one night, got into the pens and bit all their heads off... MRS COWELL Westerham Close Bilborough
Firstly, the fox is not vermin... Foxes DO NOT kill for pleasure... It is proven that fox numbers do not escalate when no form of control is evident... The facts are irrefutable and available from the National Fox Welfare Society... SAMANTHA CADE Co-ordinator, National Fox Welfare Society Higham Road Rushden, Northants
Why all this fuss? D. GROOM (Mrs) Chandos Street, Netherfield (letters)

Hartlepool Mail 30.3.02 Richard wrong to attack king - IN Richard’s Ratings (or is it rantings?), a predictable swipe was taken at THE REAL GEORGE V and country sports (March 22)... that at Sandringham the king and his upper-class friends shot over one million grouse, fattened up so they could hardly fly. Sandringham is in Norfolk, not known for its heather and grouse moors! ... Before you try to be a smart a**e get your facts right or the joke falls flat on its face. Like most of the consistent tosh from the anti brigade. A P Abbott, Sheraton, Castle Eden. (letter)

Times 30.3.02 Animal research in search of cures ... Many eminent doctors and lawyers agree that animal models do not predict the response in humans of drugs, because of the insurmountable problem of species differences... PAMELA KINNUNEN, 50 Purley Avenue, NW2 1SB.
While the tactics of animal rights activists could sometimes be brought into question, the very idea that animal based research is directly responsible for so many cures is erroneous... PAUL WARD, Chairman, Europeans For Medical Advancement, PO Box 38604, London W13 0YR. (letters)

KANGAROO FOOTBALL BOOT CAMPAIGN
Northern Echo 30.3.02 Don't be cruel for sake of football says Kylie ...Campaigners yesterday joined Kylie the kangaroo at the main entrance of St James's Park, to call on Newcastle fans to boycott kangaroo leather football boots. The Kick Cruelty out of Football campaign is being run by international animal charity Viva!.. Newcastle Animal Rights Coalition spokeswoman Louise Stevenson said: "Kangaroo leather means a slow, agonising death for millions of kangaroos and joeys every year..."
Western Daily Press 23.3.02 THOSE WHO SPOIL THEIR OWN CAUSE - The letter from Elizabeth Howe concerning kangaroos would have been better if she had got it right... They have been slaughtered for years and if we don't buy football boots made from kangaroo skin - I don't buy football boots made from anything - it will not stop one kangaroo from being killed... There are those who want to stop anyone having anything to do with animals. They do not want us to eat animals, so no farm animals. They don't want anyone to have pets, so no budgie, cat or dog, let alone anything else... Their increasing bile has turned me from an ardent supporter of those who want to stop animal abuse to someone who will no longer donate to any of them. (letter)
Western Daily Press 19.3.02 FOOTBALL PUTS THE BOOT INTO KANGAROOS - I am sure that many WDP readers will be shocked to learn that Britain's favourite sport, football, plays a major role in a wildlife massacre... (letter)
Lancashire Evening Telegraph 12.3.02 Soccer 'killing' the kangaroos …More than seven million kangaroos and their babies are to be slaughtered this year in Australia for meat and skins, which will be used to make many top brands of football boots…The exposure by the animal rights group Viva! of this horrific suffering caused huge public outcry and all of the major supermarkets pulled kangaroo meat from their shelves, but the kangaroo leather industry shares equal responsibility for this sickening massacre… A EDWARDS (Mrs), Whalley New Road, Blackburn (letter in archive)
Western Daily Press 16.1.02 Beckham puts 'roos on the hop KANGAROOS are fast becoming an endangered species - thanks to British footballers... Animal rights group Viva say the kangaroos are often beaten to death and their off-spring left to fend for themselves in the wild... (story in Bristol Evening Post archive)

Hull Daily Mail 30.3.02 HABITS REFLECT CLIMATE - Becky Smith (Letters, March 26) missed the point of my letter... Changing to vegetarian alternatives would mean most items of food would need to be imported at great financial and environmental cost. (letter)
Hull Daily Mail 23.2.02 GOING VEGGIE IS NOT NATURAL FOR US ALL - I KNOW it is very easy to be a vegetarian today, thanks to a huge variety of produce available... The case for vegetarianism seems to rest upon it being natural. Natural for who? An inhabitant of the Mediterranean? Possibly. An inhabitant of the Arctic? Hardly. (letter)
Hull Daily Mail 11.2.02 A NATURAL LIFESTYLE - I READ with interest that Christ was a vegetarian. Maybe so, yet that doesn't mean we all have to be... (letter)

Edinburgh News 29.3.02 Pro-hunters seek leader - PRO-HUNT campaigner, the Scottish Countryside Alliance, is looking to recruit a chief executive to help fight for rural rights... (story)

Western Morning News 29.3.02 100,000 COULD JOIN PRO-HUNTING MARCH - JAMIE MCGINNES - Up TO 100,000 hunt supporters from the Westcountry are to march on London in a last-ditch attempt to save the tradition, it was claimed yesterday.... (story)

Western Daily Press 29.3.02 HUNT SUPPORTERS WANT GIANT DEMO - Hunt supporters are preparing to take part in the largest peacetime march ever held in Europe... Richard Burge, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said he believed it was important the march influenced the Government's consultation process over hunting...(story)

Southern Daily Echo 29.3.02 Hunters confident they'll ride again - MEMBERS of the New Forest Hounds will stage their final foxhunt of the season tomorrow...(story in archive)

Shropshire Star 29.3.02 Alliance fighting battle for freedom - I respond to Mr Ray Williams' letter of 13th March where he asks the question: "Do you have to be in favour of hunting with dogs to be a member of the Countryside Alliance?" The answer is, no you don't. However, I stress that to be a member of the Countryside Alliance you must be against the principle of a ban on hunting... E Foster, Chairman of Shropshire Countryside Alliance (letter in archive)
Shropshire Star 13.3.02 Views on hunting changed - When I read D G Morris's letter concerning a fox attacking a child in an urban area I among many others was very sceptical of this claim - for I have never heard of a child being attacked by a fox... I was pro-hunting when I started work on a farm in 1955, and I filled the fox earths to prevent them going to ground. But I changed my views over the years after witnessing the attitude of some members of the hunt... I support many of the aims of the Countryside Alliance but I still have not been given an answer to the question: Do you have to be in favour of hunting with dogs to be a member of the CA? Ray Williams, Shifnal (letter in archive)

Bournemouth Daily Echo 29.3.02 Campaign to halt Forest hunt goes on by Rachel Read - CAMPAIGNERS have vowed not to give up their fight to try to ban the New Forest Hounds from ever hunting again. The Forestry Commission in Lyndhurst has confirmed it is to take no action against the hunt after a pregnant vixen and her unborn cubs were killed last Saturday... Bruce Rothnie, the Commission's recreation manager, said that after examining reports from the animal protection group, the hunt and its own staff, no warning would be issued to the New Forest Hounds.... Ken James, of the New Forest Animal Protection Group, said: "I am disgusted and disappointed by this decision - we have proof that the hunt contravened its licence... New Forest Hounds spokesman Nick Smith criticised the group for wasting everybody's time...
Southern Daily Echo 25.3.02 HUNTING SETBACK by Peter East - HUNTING in the New Forest was today reeling from a stunning double blow. The recently-formed draghunt announced at the weekend that it was riding away from the Forest for ever - and the foxhunt was rocked by a "yellow card" warning from the Forestry Commission... Mr Thomas told the commission's senior New Forest officer, Donald Thompson: "The New Forest Drag Hounds, as the New Forest Buck Hounds before us, have decided that the New Forest does not any longer offer a suitable environment for draghunting..." His announcement followed strong criticism of the draghunt by the Commoners' Defence Association, which represents the owners of the Forest's grazing animals, that a hound had got out of control at a recent trial meet and had chased three deer. But Mr Thomas said he had not ruled out the possibility that a herd of about 30 red deer had been driven towards the draghunt by people wanting to sabotage his efforts... the Forestry Commission announced it had given the New Forest hounds a "yellow card" after investigating an incident where hounds got out of control during a hunt at Telegraph Hill, between Godshill and Brook last Tuesday... A complaint had been lodged with the commission by the New Forest Animal Protection Group, which alleged that "six hounds were lost to the hunt for a considerable length of time"... Frankie Horan, of the New Forest Animal Protection Group, said: "One of our members has found remains, including an unborn cub..." The hunt's licence agreement demands that they clear any remains from the forest... hunt spokesman Nick Smith said "It seems that someone has removed a piece of fox before our huntsmen had the chance to get it away..." (story in archive)

Bournemouth Daily Echo 29.3.02 HUNT BATTLE UNDER WAY by Rachel Read - HUNT supporters in Dorset are living on borrowed time - and they have just six months to fight for their way of life and prevent it from becoming extinct... quotes from New Forest Animal Protection Group spokesman Ken James, Countryside Agency spokesman for the South, Alison Hawes, New Forest Hunt Master Nick Smith, Hugo Busby of the North Dorset-based Portman Hunt (story in archive)

West Cumberland Times & Star 29.3.02 HUNT CONSULTATION WILL BE A WASTE OF TIME SAY PACKS A SIX month consultation on fox hunting announced by the Government last week will probably be a waste of time, say the Cumbrian fell packs - quotes from John Jackson, secretary of Melbreak Foxhounds, Barry Todhunter, huntsman of Threlkeld-based Blencathra Foxhounds - it is feared that an outright ban elsewhere in the country would cause horrendous problems in the Lake District. It is believed that followers, perhaps in their hundreds, would travel to the Cumbria fells to watch the few remaining hunts in action. "What could kill us off," says Mr Todhunter, "is the villages saying they don't want that many people descending on them."...(story in archive)

Darlington & Stockton Times 29.3.02 Hunts face tense wait as consultation period begins - A FRUSTRATING and stressful six months lie ahead for 17 hunts in the region, which are still no clearer about their future... Only upland hunts such as the Wensleydale Foxhounds have some cause for hope, as foxes are almost impossible to track down on the fells. The members follow on foot, not on horseback, and they may be able to continue under licence. Quotes from Maurice Bell, Wensleydale master, Joe Townsend, huntsman with the Bedale (story in archive)

Northern Echo/Darlington & Stockton Times 29.3.02 Hunt remembers dedicated follower - WENSLEYDALE Foxhounds have held a special hunt to celebrate the life of one of its greatest followers, Eric Chilton, who has died aged 88. His family later scattered his ashes on the fells he loved so much. He was chairman of the foxhounds for 20 years and followed it on foot until he was 80... (story in archive)

York Evening Press 29.3.02 Cruel irony - HOW many MPs or peers who voted to ban fox hunting yet eat foie gras or veal can justify their selfish pleasure while seeking to criminalise a countryside pursuit which serves a useful purpose and provides employment? R A Stansfield, Main Street, Welburn, York. (letter in archive)

ThisIsDevon (Exeter Express & Echo, Torquay Herald Express, Plymouth Evening Herald, North Devon Journal, Western Morning News) 29.3.02 DREADFUL PASTIME - I WRITE to congratulate R A Gagie on a great letter about fox hunting. I thought I knew all that went on during this barbaric sport, but it certainly opened my eyes... JUNE RICHARDS Southfield Avenue Preston, Paignton (letter)

ThisIsDevon (Exeter Express & Echo, Torquay Herald Express, Plymouth Evening Herald, North Devon Journal, Western Morning News) 29.3.02 HUNTING DEBATE IS ISSUE OF FREEDOM NOT CRUELTY - The real issue in the fox hunting debate isn't foxes at all, but is about one group of people imposing their views on another... David Challice, UK Independence Party, Holland Road, Exeter (letter)

ThisIsDevon (Exeter Express & Echo, Torquay Herald Express, Plymouth Evening Herald, North Devon Journal, Western Morning News) 29.3.02 THE KENNELS SHOULD STOP BREEDING HOUNDS NOW - May we ask the hunting kennels to stop breeding hounds now that there's a hunting ban imminent? Mrs Jennifer Cook, Payhembury, near Honiton letter)

Western Morning News 29.3.02 KNEE-JERK REACTION LEADS TO BAD LAWS The recent letter from Jonathan Higgins is one of the very few concerning hunting which goes directly to the heart of the matter. John Phelps' argument that a majority of MPs' votes should decide this issue without reference to the second chamber tends towards the elective dictatorship that Lord Hailsham warned against in 1976… J Ward-Hayne, Modbury (letter)
Western Morning News 19.3.02 True spirit of Parliament - JOHN Phelps (WMN, March 12) has obviously spent much time and effort in studying the technicalities of Parliamentary procedure. What a pity it is then that the true spirit of the place seems to have eluded him altogether… Jonathan Higgins, Totnes (letter)
Western Morning News 12.3.02 DEBATE IS TOO SIMPLISTIC - Even those with no direct interest in the hunting debate would do well to heed the implications of John Phelps' letter (WMN, February 12)… Parliament's primary role is to safeguard our liberties, not to remove them… He seems to think that the feelings of the anti-hunting lobby are better than reason… Jonathan Higgins, Totnes (letter)
Western Morning News 12.3.02 LORDS MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO OBSTRUCT BILL …no commoner should allow the Government of Her Majesty, their Lordships and Bishops, to disregard the will of the people and their democratically elected representatives. John Phelps, Council member Protect Our Wild Animals (letter)

Worcester Evening News 29.3.02 Spilling blood as a source of pleasure ... As a trade unionist, I have sympathy for skilled and trained workers whose livelihood is taken away from them... However, to define the health of the rural economy as centred around hunting with dogs is to ignore wider economic issues that the countryside shares with towns and cities.... It's a line that we draw and improve as civilised human beings in rejecting the exploitation of the human and the animal world in the spilling of blood as a source of pleasure. PETER NIELSEN, Worcester. (letter in archive)

Newark Advertiser 29.3.02 Modern view - It appears Dr Sullivan (Hunting Threat, News Views, March 1) has either not considered or chooses to ignore the cruelty element of the sport that she has avidly followed for ten years... RICHARD KENT, (address supplied.) (letter may be in archive)
Newark Advertiser 15.3.02 Hunting threat - We presume that we live in a liberal democracy, where an individual's rights and freedoms are held dear. Having hunted regularly for ten years, I've found the hunting fraternity immensely loyal, disciplined, courteous and respectful of the countryside… The country is in danger of becoming a colourless, nanny state, where minorities are overridden; we may not realise it until it's too late. - Dr CHRISTOBEL SULLIVAN, Elston Hall, Top Street, Elston (letter may be in archive)

Wiltshire Gazette & Herald 29.3.02 Hunting out truth of the fox and hounds ... This Bill has consistently gained support from the public, many of whom voted Labour in order to get this barbaric and medieval practice banned... The fox is a beautiful natural British wild animal... The hounds themselves are not kept for more than five or six years, then are shot by their keepers... It is sickening the way children are made to take part, are "bloodied" in their first hunt blood from a killed fox smeared on their faces... I am myself a hunt saboteur so I know what really happens, not what hunters want people to see on TV.... NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED (letter in archive)

Wiltshire Gazette & Herald/Chippenham News 29.3.02 RSPCA probes attack on deer - THE RSPCA has launched an investigation after a landowner found a deer dying in woods near Lacock. Patrick Goley, 45, of Bowden Hill House, claims he saw hounds from the Avon Vale Hunt in the woods shortly before finding the dying deer with neck wounds. But Jonathan Seed, joint master of the Avon Vale Hunt, categorically denied his hounds were responsible for attacking the deer... (story in archive)

Clitheroe Advertiser & Times 29.3.02 Let's have a little honesty IT is about time everyone started to be honest over the hunting debate. We all know it is done as a social occasion. Those against, use the cruelty aspect when, if they were truthful, they would admit it is a class battle.... why did the Prime Minister not attend the debate on our brave Commandos going out to Afghanistan to finish off the job the Yanks can't hack? Yet he found time to speak about fox hunting. Do we take it his Governement puts foxes before the lives of our fighting men who are the best in the world? MARTIN JAMES, Grindleton. (letter)

Scotsman 29.3.02 Protected species - Callum Campbell (Letters, 22 March) is wrong to claim that foxes should be regarded as vermin... SARAH BRUCE, The Causeway, Edinburgh (letter)
Scotsman 22.3.02 - Dr Gavin TD Greig (Letters, 16 March) fails to understand a simple analogy. Given that it is agreed by most in both camps of the hunting debate that foxes are vermin and their numbers need to be controlled, just how does he suggest we do this?... CALLUM CAMPBELL, Grange of Lindores, Fife (letter)
Scotsman 21.3.02 Battle Dr Gavin TD Greig’s response (Letters, 16 March) to Callum Campbell’s letter (14 March) has all the makings of an intellectual battle between two Fifers. It could be worth watching. Nick Aitken KINGUSSIE (letter)
Scotsman 16.3.02 ... he can’t spot a few fundamental differences between a boat and a fox! (Dr) Gavin TD Greig KINGSBARNS, FIFE (letter)
Scotsman 14.3.02 I think the Boat Race on the Thames should be banned, as it is cruel to boats.... CALLUM CAMPBELL, Grange of Lindores, Fife (letter)

Worcester Evening News 29.3.02 Preying on the fear of illness or death - IN reply to Thomas Bromley (You Say, March 14), I would point out that the vivisection industry itself uses "emotional propaganda", preying on the fear of illness and death to generate support for cruel and unreliable animal experiments that are at best useless and, at worse, harmful to human health... H HANDY, West Malvern Road, Malvern. (letter in archive)
Worcester Evening News 14.3.02 Exposing anti-vivisection groups - THE emotional propaganda machine of anti-vivisection groups threatens to deny patients essential medical treatments that rely on the continued use of animals in medical research... We have just published a new leaflet called Anti-Vivisection Unmasked which aims to expose the truth about anti-vivisection groups... To become a "Friend Of SIMR" (free of charge) or for an information pack please write to SIMR, PO Box 504, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU6 2LU. www.simr.org.uk or e-mail us at info@simr.org.uk THOMAS BROMLEY, SIMR Member, Littlehampton, West Sussex. (letter in archive)

ThisIsDevon (Exeter Express & Echo, Torquay Herald Express, Western Morning News, North Devon Journal, Plymouth Evening Herald) 29.3.02 WHY BUILD ANOTHER ZOO? ... How can we justify placing wild creature's in a so-called marine aviary for us to gape at for our entertainment?... NORMA RITCHIE Marlborough Avenue Torquay (letter)

Wolverhampton Express & Star 29.3.02 It's animal tragic . . . Sandra Hutton! Do you remember the polar bears at Dudley Zoo, who displayed totally deranged behaviour?... Animals are not ours to use for entertainment... What a selfish attitude you have. Rose Golding, Rowley Regis. (letter may be in archive)

Westmorland Gazette 28.3.02 Hunt Supporters Left In Limbo - HUNT supporters in South Lakeland have been left in limbo for a further six months after the Government's decision to delay a decision on the centuries old sport until autumn, reports Victoria Clark…. Doreen Westmoreland, of Coniston Foxhounds, said: "We have got this six months consultation and it is quite worrying what will happen after that…. David Stocker, of the Countryside Alliance, said he really had no idea what would be contained in the bill the government put forward in six months time…. (story)

Telegraph 28.3.02 Alliance plans London march By Charles Clover, Environment Editor - THE Countryside Alliance warned the Government last night that it intends to stage a large protest march in London in the autumn against the possibility of a ban on hunting with hounds... (story
Times 28.3.02 Pro-hunt march to pull in 500,000 protesters By Valerie Elliott, Countryside Editor - THE Countryside Alliance is to mobilise hunt supporters to prepare for the largest peacetime march ever to take place in Europe... More than 500,000 people are expected to join a protest through London in defence of hunting, civil rights and the future viability of many rural communities... The Government reacted angrily last night to the plans for a march. A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “A summer of discontent would hardly be an appropriate reaction to a rational response which was set up last week.”.. (story)
Western Morning News 28.3.02 ALLIANCE THREAT OF 'SUMMER OF DISCONTENT' - The Countryside Alliance warned the Government yesterday that they are to face a "summer of discontent" for failing to heed rural pleas for fairness over debates about hunting... South West spokesman for the Countryside Alliance, Mal Treharne, has welcomed the protests which will take place both locally and nationally... (story)

Southampton Daily Echo 28.3.02 Southern Daily Echo 28.3.02 Hunt supporters in defiant mood - NEARLY 200 hunt supporters turned out in a defiant mood to give their backing to the hounded country sport at the last meeting in Burley of the season for New Forest Hounds... (story in archive)
Bournemouth Daily Echo 27.3.02 Rally for Forest hunt - HUNDREDS of hunt supporters turned out in a defiant mood to give their backing to the hounded country sport. In what has been one of the most difficult weeks in the New Forest Hounds' history scores of people turned out to support the hunt at its last meet of the season in Burley.... But the New Forest Animal Protection Group slammed the supporters' defiant protest. Spokesman Ken James said: "Just because something is traditional is not a reason for its continuation. But the New Forest Animal Protection Group slammed the supporters' defiant protest. Spokesman Ken James said: "Just because something is traditional is not a reason for its continuation. Hunting is antiquated, it's wrong and it's barbaric. This was proved on Saturday when that poor pregnant vixen was torn apart by the hounds, her unborn cubs spilled to the ground..." (story in archive)

Guardian 28.3.02 The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable - We think of hunting as something newly controversial. But painters have long portrayed it as a hobby for rich sadists, says Jonathan Jones... the carefully contrived visual spectacle of the mass hunt that was invented in the 18th century and popularised by such paintings, have shaped our feelings about hunting. Would there be the same demand for a ban on hunting if it had a better image in art?.. . Angling is imagined as pastoral and democratic - which is why, when the foxes are reprieved, British fish will still be squirming on hooks. (story)

Malvern Gazette 28.3.02 Hunt mood still defiant over ban - Members of the Ledbury Hunt say they will defy the law and go to prison if foxhunting is banned... Don Haden, Joint-Master of the Ledbury Hunt, said: "If hunting were to be banned, there would be a huge outcry. I and people in the Ledbury Hunt would be prepared to go to prison, and shame the Government into thinking again."... Animal rights protester Tony Peters, who co-ordinates protests in Ledbury, said: "Hunting should have been banned years ago, and foxhunters should be in prison anyway, for what they do."... North Ledbury Hunt's Joint Master Valerie Allfrey has declined to comment... (story in archive)

Western Morning News 28.3.02 PROTEST SPELLS OUT MESSAGE ON HUNTS - Anti-hunt campaigners staged a peaceful protest at one of the Westcountry's biggest annual hunt's yesterday - in a bid to reinforce the message that it could be the last time the event is held. The League Against Cruel Sports, which is lobbying Government for a total ban on hunting with hounds in the UK, turned up to a meeting of the Spooners & West Dartmoor, Dartmoor, Mid Devon and South Devon hunts at Two Bridges, Princetown, yesterday... quote from Mid Devon LACS co-ordinator, Ivor Annetts (story)

Bury Times 28.3.02 Hunt hopes to survive "compromise" ban ... Members of Holcombe Hunt said they can live with a ruling that fox-hunting will be only be allowed if it can be proved that it is the only means of pest control... Alex Sneddon, joint master of the hunt, told the Bury Times: "The Holcombe Hunt is for pest control. The farmer invites us on the land to kill vermin. Without the farmer's permission, we would not be allowed on the land." (story in archive)

(The Sentinel?) 28.3.02 I am concerned about fox hunting… I think this is an awful way of dealing with foxes… By Hannah Wheway, age 11, of Ryecroft Middle School (story)

Berwickshire News 28.3.02 Is hunting ban more important than surrender of freedom ... BBC TV main news broadcast did not mention at all the passage through the Commons and Lords of ratification of the Treaty of Nice.... Is Fox Hunting of greater importance to British viewers than the surrender of their freedom and democracy?.. 20 Touch Wards, Dunfermline, Fife, KY12 7TG. (letter)
Daily Record 26.3.02 Foxes v freedom ... the Treaty of Nice... Treaty was a massive surrender of further UK powers to the EU... Is fox hunting of greater importance to British viewers than the surrender of their freedom and democracy? - John Greer-Spencer, Dunfermline. (letter may be in archive)
Scotsman 25.3.02 BBC Television rightly gave considerable coverage to the banning of fox-hunting debate in Parliament.... John G Greer-Spencer DUNFERMLINE (letter)

Berwick Advertiser 28.3.02 If only as much effort went into sorting out problems of our Health Service - Our MPs and MSPs waxed eloquent and passionate on the cruelty of foxhunting yet seem ready to acknowledge that the number of foxes in the wild must be controlled. Shooting appears to be acceptable to them although no marksman can guarantee a 100% success rate... W W SCOTT, St Baldred's Road, North Berwick, East Lothian. (letter)
Border Telegraph 26.3.02 Foxes or hospital patients question? Sir, — Our MPs and MSPs waxed eloquent and passionate on the cruelty of fox-hunting, yet seem ready to acknowledge that the number of foxes in the wild must be controlled... Would that as much effort was put into sorting out the problems of the Health Service.... If there is a black, homosexual fox out there, it is truly a favoured creature. — I am, etc., William W. Scott. St Baldred’s Road, North Berwick (letter)

Basingstoke Gazette 28.3.02 Hunting protesters may make their point at Hackwood meet by Anita Smith ... The Vine and Craven point-to-point meeting is taking place on Easter Monday at Hackwood New Park. As it is organised by a local hunt group, anti-bloodsport protesters have always gathered at the park with their placards to demonstrate peacefully.... Hackwood Park's estate manager Oliver Lister is worried protesters might target the wrong part of the estate.... Having had problems in previous years, Mr Lister is putting up signs around the property and at the front gates to disassociate Hackwood House from the event.... (story in archive)
Southern Daily Echo 22.3.02 Hunt ban threat to historic meet by Anita Smith - A BAN on hunting would sound the death knell for the historic annual Hackwood Park point-to-point meeting which attracts nearly 10,000 people to Basingstoke… Robin Mackenzie, chairman of the Basingstoke point-to-point event, said the Hackwood Park meet - which has been the target of protests by anti-hunt campaigners - would go if "draconian legislation" hits hunting… Mr Mackenzie, who runs a sheep farm near Andover, is also joint master of the Vine and Craven Hunt which has kennels in Hannington. The hunt covers an area including Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire… (story)

Worcester Evening News 28.3.02 Ban might pose threat to jobs - reply to Jonathan Heath, 8.3.02 - there's the possibility that many people who will be made redundant through the banning of hunting with hounds, will have to find alternative paid occupation or be paid by the state. PETER ALCOCK, Upton Snodsbury, Worcestershire. (letter in archive)

Worcester Evening News 28.3.02 Destroying more rural livelihoods - A YEAR to the day since the biggest public demonstration that London would ever have seen - had it not been cancelled due to the foot-and-mouth epidemic - MPs devoted an entire day of parliamentary time to the same issue that ignited that march, namely a hunting ban... DAVID STOCKER, Countryside Alliance, West Midlands. (letter in archive)

Worcester Evening News 28.3.02 Greater interest in hunting's social life ... Over the past 50 years, there have been numerous Government enquiries into this whole matter. None has concluded that hunting needed to be banned on the grounds of cruelty... The old obsession with the `'stirrup cup'' remains - should offering a guest a warming drink be something to be so despised in a free society?.. JON BURGESS, Malvern. (letter in archive)

Shropshire Star 28.3.02 Crisis mistakes and now hunt ban - The Government admits that it mishandled the foot and mouth epidemic... And now it intends to ban hunting. In the future, perhaps the Government will admit that wildlife welfare has suffered, the rural economy has suffered, new jobs have not miraculously appeared... And no doubt we'll be told that the ban was "a success". Who will protect us from this Government's failures? Janet George, Stottesdon (letter in archive)

Shropshire Star 28.3.02 Hunt ban and future of Ireland - With its proposed hunting ban the Labour Party is going to do what it seems to be good at, hitting the poorer people who have often been their supporters... Of course the "better off" will still be able to enjoy hunting if they wish, all they will need to do is cross the sea to Ireland... If the ban is to apply to Northern Ireland could it hasten the day of a United Ireland? J Francis, Broseley (letter in archive)

Swindon Evening Advertiser 28.3.02 We must teach care of animals In reply to Brian Sedgley's letter about Mr Blair getting his priorities wrong in trying to ban fox hunting... I admire Mr Blair's courage and humanity to try to ban foxhunting. I care and I believe a lot of others do too. I also trust Tony Blair enough to believe that he is gradually sorting out the problems with the NHS and education that have accumulated over the years. Are you, Mr Sedgley, by any chance a fox hunting, privileged Tory? I apologise if I am wrong, but that is the picture you conveyed in your letter. (Mrs) MARY PACY, Conisborough, Toothill, Swindon (letter in archive)
Swindon Evening Advertiser 14.3.02 Priorities all wrong - SO Mr Blair is going to spend a lot of time trying to ban fox-hunting again. I do not think that the average person in the street could care less about fox-hunting... BRIAN SEDGLEY Berwick Bassett, Swindon (letter in archive)

Northern Echo 28.3.02 HUNTING - WHEN the Government should be concerned with the devastated state of the rural economy after foot-and-mouth, it seeks instead to destroy a part of rural life that brings money and jobs to the countryside by banning fox hunting... - Peter Troy, Darlington Branch Chairman, Federation of Small Businesses, Maunby, North Yorkshire.
THE letters (HAS, Mar 22) said: "There are many important things the Government should be concentrating on." ...The majority of people want a ban on hunting. The majority of elected Members of Parliament want a ban. Where is the problem? - Barry Wood, Edmondsley.
SO where were all these animal-loving Labour backbenchers last year? The majority of cattle and sheep need not have died during the foot-and-mouth outbreak. Could they not find Tow Law?.. Jim Tague, Bishop Auckland.
...to subject any animal to this sport is downright premeditated cruelty and all in the name of entertainment. - Fiona Rolfe, Willington.
...The would-be green wellies want the choice of looking ridiculous in country squire red and quaffing atop a gee-gee, looking down on the below-stairs serfs who stubbornly refuse to doff their hats and acknowledge their lowly place in society. In other words, it is all about status... F Atkinson, Shincliffe.
...If the so-called moderate countryside leaders have any decency, they would call it a day and look for more useful ways of leading their lives... John Young, Crook.
THE Tories say the Government should get on with more important business. Well, fox hunting is very important to a very large majority of people in this country who want it stopped... - John and Evelyn Thompson, Crook.
I BELIEVE that most of the anti-hunt feeling is engendered not by concern for the fox, but by social spite and class hatred.... Jim Ross, Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear.

Congleton Guardian 28.3.02 MP blasts anti-hunt campaign - BANNING hunting would have a disastrous impact on the rural economy, Congleton MP Ann Winterton told the House of Commons... (story in archive)

Tavistock Times 28.3.02 Nitty gritty of Burns Report - LET’S get it right please, Mr Morlock (Letters, March 21), if you are going to quote the Burns Report. It did not conclude that hunting was as humane as other methods. Chap.6, para 6.49: ‘ . . . we are satisfied, nevertheless that this experience (sic hunting with dogs) seriously compromises the welfare of the fox’... G P Falvey, 10 Lopes Road, Dousland
WE are writing to point out an anomaly regarding the use of the Dartmoor National Park. At the entrance to the moor there are notices concerning dogs on leads due to lambing and nesting birds... Why, we ask, are dog owners required to keep their dogs on leads, when the hunt is allowed free access to the moor with some 30 dogs running free and many horses?.. Peter and Carol Barnes, 8 Barkers Way, North Tawton (letters in archive)
Tavistock Times 21.3.02 Freedom of choice heart of hunting ...Ms Rebecca Richards-Mole wishes to live in a civilised society. Surely the test of a democracy is how it treats its minorities and a civilised society tolerates people holding opposing views on moral issues without criminalising them except in circumstances where their actions have a deleterious effect on other members of society... Guy Morlock MFH Spooner’s and West Dartmoor Foxhounds
IN reply to the letter from the Labour Party chairman Rebecca Richards-Mole, why is it that the only time we hear from the Labour Party in West Devon is when fox hunting appears?.. Fox hunting is a smokescreen, intended to draw attention away from the lies, scandal and sleaze of an inefficient Labour Government that promises the earth and delivers little... James McInnes, Association chairman West Devon and Torridge Conservatives
MAY I suggest to Rebecca Richards-Mole that if she really wants a civilised country to live in she could try pressurising her government to banish crime from the streets of our towns and cities rather than urging her MP to vote to ban hunting the fox... Barbara Atherton, Springfield Park, Bridestowe
Tavistock Times 14.3.02 ‘Weak’ position on hunting ... Foxhunting is barbaric and inhumane, moreover the Burns Report states that only six per cent of the fox population are killed in this way.... come on, Mr Burnett, do what is right for those of us who want to live in a civilised society and vote to ban foxhunting. Rebecca Richards-Mole, Constituency chair Torridge and West Devon Labour Party, 1 White Tor Close, Okehampton
Tavistock Times 7.3.02 Burnett maintains his opposition to hunting ban …AS THE House of Commons prepares to vote once more on the controversial issue of fox hunting, West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett says his position on hunting has not changed at all… (story in archive, incorrectly dated 14.3.02)

Buckingham Advertiser 28.3.02 BAN IS AN INFRINGEMENT - THE Burns Report, commissioned by the Government, found no clear grounds for a ban on hunting and that, in our usually tolerant society, a ban would be an infringement of people’s liberty, the imposition of prejudice on a significant minority... Becky Adams, Stratton Audley.
HELP RURAL LIFE PROSPER ... almost a year since the horrors of foot-and-mouth disease, which has destroyed livelihoods across the country, many MPs have been voting on a fox hunting ban, which could destroy more jobs... Is this the beginning of the Government’s much-vaunted Rural Recovery Initiative? Jeremy Adams, Stratton Audley. (letter)

Hull Daily Mail 28.3.02 'BAN COULD RUIN MY LIVELIHOOD' - Professional huntsman Robert Howarth stands among his pack of faithful hounds amid fears that one day they may have be put to death. His beloved hounds at the Holderness Hunt are bred purely to hunt foxes, and will have to be put down if they can no longer hunt them across East Riding farmland... Mr Howarth said fox hunting was not about "rich people tearing around on horseback", but something that was enjoyed by a cross-section of the community. (story)

Western Daily Press 28.3.02 LUDICROUS CLAIMS BY PRO-HUNTERS ... Mary Tapping claims that hunt saboteurs lay razor wire to ambush horses and call hounds onto roads to be hit by cars. Does she or anyone else really believe that animal rights people risk arrest, injury and even death to save one animal but would be prepared to injure others in the process?.. Pull the other one - let's have some proof of what you tell us. P Richardson Woodmancote Gloucestershire (letter)

Western Daily Press 28.3.02 - On March 18 the House of Commons, by a very large majority, voted for a ban regarding hunting... Why do we now have a six months'wait? The House of Commons is an elected chamber, the Lords is not... Pamela Dean Whiteshill Nr Stroud Gloucestershire (letter)

Western Daily Press 28.3.02 PEERS 'WRECKED FARM BILL TO GET REVENGE' War broke out at Westminster yesterday over claims that prohunting peers wrecked a key Government Bill in revenge for hunting proposals... Farming minister Lord Whitty said the surprise defeat was plotted by aristocratic peers who wanted vengeance over their fears all bloodsports will soon be banned... (letter)
Telegraph 27.3.02 Peers thwart new cattle cull powers - GOVERNMENT legislation giving ministers greater powers to cull cattle in the event of another foot and mouth outbreak was blocked in the House of Lords last night... Lord Whitty, the junior environment minister, blamed the defeat on annoyance in the Lords at last week's announcement that the Government would push through a Bill potentially banning hunting. He said: "There was a very high attendance of backbench Conservative and cross-bench hereditary peers, most of whom hardly ever vote."... (story)
Ananova 26.3.02 Ministers angry after peers ambush animal bill - Ministers have attacked peers after the House of Lords unexpectedly blocked legislation giving the Government new powers to tackle animal diseases like foot-and-mouth. Farming minister Lord Whitty accused pro-fox hunting peers of wreaking revenge on the Animal Health Bill after last week's massive Commons vote in favour of a hunting ban... (story)

East Cleveland Advertiser 28.3.02 Riders welcomed by hunt group - Cleveland Hunt Supporters is inviting anyone with a horse or pony to join a pleasure ride on Sunday... The ride costs £10 for adults and £5 for children. For details, call Susan Perkins on 07867 787341. (story in archive)

Richmond & Twickenham Times 28.3.02 What about human rights? - ,-I was interested to read the letter from Mrs Frances Russell (March 22nd) in which she claims that Animal Rights supporters have empathy and compassion for all God's creatures'. Unfortunately, God's creatures' do not apparently include human beings, as we have clearly seen in recent weeks, with an elderly lady in the Richmond area being terrorised and abused, her house sprayed with obscene graffiti and death threats issued against her, because she happens to own shares in Huntingdon Life Sciences… -Louise O'Connor, Vancouver Road, Ham. (letter)
Richmond & Twickenham Times 25.3.02 Foxes in my garden love tofu, ...and after foot and mouth... ,-Louise O'Connor sounds almost desperate in her attempt to discuss vegetarians and animal welfare organisations. Once again she vilifies the poor old fox who can out match nature's greatest killing machine, man… Ms O Connor snipes at Animal Rights supporters who in fact have the highest regard for nature and its downside, their goal is to prevent the abuse of animals and the environment from greedy, uncaring humans, Long may they live… Ms Frances Russell, Kingston Road, Teddington. (letter)

Northern Echo 27.3.02 A poignant but inevitable demise by Harry Mead - DRIVING around my local countryside, I often witness a benefit of foxhunting that is rarely recognised and has nothing to do with fox control. Strung out on the road verge are groups of hunt supporters. I recognise some of them - mainly elderly men. Taken as a whole, they are not cruel people but honest-to-goodness country folk for whom foxhunting has always been part of life…. A lifelong opponent of hunting, I confess to a misgiving that, through my share in the groundswell of opinion that will sweep away hunting, I will also bear responsibility for denying these hunt supporters a reason to get out and about in their countryside… Even so, hunting must go… (story)

Yorkshire Post 27.3.02 The huntsman who gave up fishing From: John Florence, Denby Dale, Huddersfield - Sir, – I ceased fishing in my teens because of the destruction of river banks, and bird life with discarded hooks and line. I ceased shooting in my twenties after blowing the hind leg off a fox in a fox drive although I was known as a fine shot. I carried on hunting believing that the healthy strong fox escaped and wounded/poisoned foxes are caught....
From: John Morley, Thornton Dale, Pickering - Sir, – It is important to myself and also to my family and friends that hunting should not be banned. Many people I know are employed in an area related to hunting, ranging from grooms to farriers... (letters)

Scotsman 29.4.02 Hunting - Dr Alex Moseley’s claim (Letters, 27 March) that "there is no greater cruelty" than taking away a man’s liberty to participate in bloodsports, displays remarkable ignorance about very real human rights abuses, including torture and genocide... Lynne Mitchell DOLLAR (letter)
Scotsman 27.3.02 In response to Jimmy Reid’s comments on hunting (Opinion, 25 March) there is no greater cruelty than to take a man’s liberty from him... (Dr) Alex Moseley MELTON MOWBRAY (letter)
Scotsman 25.3.02 JIMMY REID on how foxhunting must degrade the human spirit - FOXHUNTING is bad for the fox. Getting chased for your life and, when caught, being torn to pieces by slavering hounds can he nobody’s idea of a nice day in the country. Yet foxhunting must he much more detrimental for the human involved... (story)

Western Daily Press 27.3.02 MY EXPERIENCE SUPPORTS HUNT - May I defend my reputation and clarify the obvious misunderstanding of Saturday's contributor who wrote about the destructive fox. I fear he confuses me with the vociferous, anti-hunting, Tony Banks MP.... (letter)
Western Daily Press 27.3.02 FOX IS USED AS A SCAPEGOAT - I'm sick of reading letters from those who use the fox, as a scapegoat for their own shortcomings.... (letter)
Western Daily Press 27.3.02 DEMOCRACY MUST BE USED TO FORCE THE HUNT BAN ISSUE - Instead of printing a sample of letters showing both sides of the debate the page managed to give virtually 100 per cent coverage to the loud tones of those bleating about the potential loss of their freedom to do whatever they like.... (letter)

Horncastle News 27.3.02 MP’s ignored hunting report - EDITOR - Parliament seems determined to undermine the rights of country people, paying no attention whatsoever to the Burns Report... CAROLINE LOWES, Aunby Manor, Stamford (letter)

Market Rasen Mail 27.3.02 HUNTING BAN IS ´MADNESS´ - THE LATEST attempt to ban hunting has been branded as ´madness´ by local MP Edward Leigh... (story)

Fermanagh Herald 27.3.02 End of hunting with hounds in Scotland - Words to mark the historic outlawing of hunting with hounds in Scotland.... No wonder prime minister Blair was wearing a fearful frown, For the gallant MSP's had shown him the way, And he said 'I'll do the same myself - some other day' Jim Brown, 7 Creamery Park, Lisbellaw. (letter probably only on website for a week)

Times 26.3.02 Supporters defiant as last Scots hunt rides out BY GILLIAN HARRIS, SCOTLAND CORRESPONDENT - COUNTRYSIDE campaigners vowed to press ahead with a legal challenge to the ban on field sports in Scotland yesterday as they gathered on the Duke of Buccleuch’s estate for the last legal foxhunt north of the border... quotes from The Duke of Buccleuch, Alan Murray, director of the Scottish Countryside Alliance, Trevor Adams, joint Master of the Buccleuch Hunt (story)
Scotsman 26.3.02 Duke in pledge to save his hunt - EDWARD BLACK - IN THE warm spring sunshine, they came in their hundreds to the Scottish Borders - sad, defiant and angry. At precisely 11am at Bowhill in Selkirkshire, the stirrup cup was handed round to fortify the riders at the final meet of the Duke of Buccleuch’s Hunt... (story)
Telegraph 26.3.02 Battle cry as duke leads pursuit of 'enemy within' By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent - THE last legal fox hunt in Scotland began yesterday with the cry "Let battle begin". The 200 riders who responded to the call outside the Duke of Buccleuch's home in the Borders were in defiant mood... The 78-year-old duke, who was confined to a wheelchair 30 years ago by a hunting accident, issued the battle cry beneath a replica of the banner that his ancestors used to rally the Borderers to repel invading forces from England... (story)
The Herald (Glasgow) 26.3.02 Has the hunt's final tally-ho been heard? - ANNETTE McCANN - THE Duke of Buccleuch is in an invidious position. Does playing host to the last fox hunt in Scotland make him a man with hunting in his blood or a man with the latter on his hands?.. (story in archive)
Ananova 25.3.02 Defiant huntsmen plan legal challenge to ban - Fox hunting supporters in Scotland have vowed to fight a ban on the sport as they took part in the final meeting of the season. The Duke of Buccleuch, one of the UK's biggest landowners, urged the pro-hunt lobby to use every legal way to challenge the proposed ban north of the border. The defiant call came as more than 150 horses and riders set off from the Duke's country home in the Scottish Borders for the traditional end-of season meet of the Buccleuch Hunt... (story)
Scotsman 25.3.02 Hunt prepares to ride into history - EDWARD BLACK - WHEN Trevor Adams, joint master of the Duke of Buccleuch’s hunt, blows his horn to rally his horses and hounds this morning, he will also be sounding the death-knell of hundreds of years of tradition. Following the successful passage of the Protection of Wild Mammals Bill in the Edinburgh parliament last month, all 200 of today’s expected field know that by participating in the final meet of the Scottish season, they are also riding into history... A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said: "We are very much reviewing the new legislation to see how it will work, but what is certain is that next season we will be policing the hunt when we’ve been used to dealing with saboteurs breaking the law."... (story)
Border Telegraph 26.3.02 The end of the hunt! - FINAL MEET? — The Duke of Buccleuch Hunt met for the last time yesterday... (story), (photo)

Kent/Sussex Courier 26.3.02 VOTE FAILS TO FIND CLEAR RESOLUTION ON HUNTING - With MPs voting overwhelmingly on Monday to ban hunting with dogs the whole issue was thrown into confusion just 24 hours later when the vote was turned on its head in the House of Lords... quotes from Richard Burge, Countryside Alliance, John Rolls, of the RSPCA, Ashford Valley Hunt supporter Sue Palmer, Jillie Rogers, joint-master of the Ashford Valley Hunt, Brian Perring, chairman of the Old Surrey, Burstow and West Kent Hunt Association (story)

Argus 26.3.02 What about the hunting dogs? - DO we read or hear a word about the masses of hounds and harriers due to be slaughtered because of the fox-hunting legislation? The RSPCA is completely silent on this.-J S Clarke, Sharpthorne (letter in archive)

Worcester Evening News 26.3.02 Vermin fox - I WONDER if all of the ban-hunting crowd will help MP Mike Foster to dig big holes and pits to bury all of the hounds and horses no longer needed. BILLY WILLIAMS, Drakes Broughton, Worcestershire (letter in archive)

Western Daily Press 26.3.02 HUNTERS WHO BREED THE PREY ... Artificial earths... if foxes are pests, why do landowners and hunts breed them and why do hunts have a 16-week closed season?Janet Hall Cirencester Gloucestershire (letter)
Western Daily Press 26.3.02 ANSWER CAN'T BE JUST TO KILL ... I have fed badgers and foxes at the back door for 15 years and have had many visitors to see these creatures... As for hunting, it appears we are ruled by the House of Lords, not the elected parliament. How can the bishops be in favour of one of God's creatures being cruelly torn to death?mName and address supplied (letter)
Western Daily Press 26.3.02 THE HUNT DEBATE IS A MATTER OF TOP PRIORITY ... To those who hunt I say a pox on all your houses - Roy Franklin Bridgwater Somerset (letter)
Western Daily Press 26.3.02 REASONS TO GET RID OF LORDS - Having seen the pathetic display of self-interest expressed by the great majority of members of the House of Lords in their recent vote on the future of hunting with dogs, it is more than clear why Tony Blair is so intent on getting rid of so many of them... Mr D Wheeler Burnham-on-Sea Somerset (letter)

Mirror 26.3.02 Lords fox the voters ... By appeasing the bloodthirsty morons in the Lords, Mr Blair has shown himself to be gutless .I have news for him - no ban, no vote Mrs Jennifer Cook, Honiton, Devon (letter in archive)

The Shields Gazette 26.3.02 Dogged for too long ... The issue of hunting with hounds has been going on for five years and in my view, the time has now arrived for Parliament to sound the last tally-ho.... Mr N. Wilson, College Road, Hebburn (letter)

Leicester Mercury 26.3.02 NO PREDATORS - Surely any ban on fox hunting should be decided by the farming community as these are the people who are immediately affected by fox predation and not the Government... John M Cox, Leicester (letter)

Western Morning News 26.3.02 Licensed cruelty - A SPOKESMAN for the Countryside Alliance, Simon Hart, is quoted as saying: "If people really care about the welfare of animals, they should go for the middle ground solution." I presume this means licensed cruelty instead of the kind that exists now… Mrs Joan Jones, Chudleigh Knighton (letter)

Western Morning News 26.3.02 HALAL METHOD IS HORRIFIC WAY FOR LIVE FOOD ANIMALS TO DIE - I have seen the arguments for and against foxhunting in the WMN recently. I would like to add another aspect for everyone to be thinking very hard indeed about. I read that a certain "dealer" in live food animals, has been "building his business" by supplying 2,000 ewes and 700 lambs a week for Halal slaughter in Wiltshire. I was sickened… Let us, therefore, be realistic about the fox. Beautiful he certainly is. Lazy, he undoubtedly also is. My smallholding teems with rabbits for him to catch. Yet he will steal a lamb just being birthed right from its mother's birth canal; or rob a run full of chickens unable to escape, rather than bother to run after a rabbit for his supper. He is an efficient and deadly killing machine. Tess Nash, Helston (letter)

Western Morning News 26.3.02 No more bureaucracy - WHAT is the outlook for foxhunting? Is there going to be a new Government department employing a fresh army of civil servants… If foxhunting is banned, we will save all the bureaucracy… They know it is wrong to give licences out to falconers to hawk skylarks, blackbirds and so on, but they work on the principle of "jobs for the boys". Albert Langslow, Newquay (letter)

ThisIsDevon (Western Morning News, Exeter Express & Echo, Plymouth Evening Herald, Torquay Herald Express, North Devon Journal) 26.3.02 I HAVE MY LIST READY FOR ROOM 101 CONSIGNMENT - Recently, watching Room 101 on television, it occurred to me that I also could consign many things that irritate or disgust me to that fate:…5. Camilla Parker Bowles…. 10. Hunting with hounds… Jennifer Cook, Tale Common Head, Payhembury (letter)

ThisIsDevon (Western Morning News, Exeter Express & Echo, Plymouth Evening Herald, Torquay Herald Express, North Devon Journal) 26.3.02 I RESPECT TRADITIONS BUT NOT CRUELTY OF HUNTING …What I cannot understand, is how anyone of sound mind can deny that fox and deer hunting with dogs is anything other than manifestly cruel and barbaric and should, like the former traditions of bear-baiting and cock-fighting, be banished to the darker corners of human history… Derrick Kroll, West Garth Road, Exeter (letter)

Western Morning News 26.3.02 WHAT WILL NEXT TARGET BE? - Jennifer Cook is probably correct in saying (WMN, March 12) that fishing is not the next activity the antis would like to go should hunting be criminalised. Shooting would almost certainly be their next target… Mrs Cook makes much of the fact that the League's emblem consists only of a fox, a stag and a hare. If hunting were to be made illegal, none of these animals would be hunted; may we therefore assume that in that case that the league would voluntarily disband? I await Mrs Cook's response with considerable interest. Jonathan Marshall, Taunton (letter)
Western Morning News 12.3.02 NO TRUTH IN CLAIM THAT GROUP WANTS FISHING BAN NEXT - D swift of Exeter (WMN, February 21) stated that at a recent League Against Cruel Sports stall in Exeter's city centre he had a conversation stating that a fishing ban was the next thing we wanted banned. What rubbish. I was there all day and was certainly not privy to any such exchange… Jennifer Cook (Mrs), Honiton (letter)
Western Morning News 12.3.02 SOLE AIM IS TO END ABUSE - D swift's recollection of our conversation, at our campaign street stall in Exeter, (WMN, February 19) differs somewhat from my own. A variety of views was expressed but at no time was it said that the League Against Cruel Sports had lined up fishing as next on its campaign agenda… Ivor Annetts, Member, Executive Committee League Against Cruel Sports Exeter (letter)
Western Morning News 21.2.02 I WAS speaking recently to members of the League Against Cruel Sports at their pitch in Exeter Town Centre. They informed me in no uncertain terms that angling would be next on their "banning agenda"…. The League against Cruel Sports should be renamed - The League against the Environment. D Swift, Exeter (letter)

Western Morning News 26.3.02 HUNTING BAN THREAT TO CONTROL OF RABBITS As I understand it, when the time comes our MPs won't be voting for a ban on foxhunting with hounds but for a complete ban on hunting wild animals with dogs. As an unpaid pastime from early autumn to early spring, I catch rabbits with ferrets, nets and, dare I say, a dog. I am invited by farmers and landowners to control their rabbits and I cover land from the tip of Land's End to Perranporth. I was brought up with this pursuit and I have 40 years experience... If, in the future, you have rats under your garden shed, don't send for me and my terrier - our MP will have voted hunting them out in this manner unlawful. Geoff James, Camborne (letter)
Western Morning News 26.3.02 SO-CALLED 'SPORT' SATISFIES BLOODLUST - I can't believe it! Martin Hesp's article on stag hunting (WMN, March 2) asks "Can we afford to lose this vibrant country spectacle"... Red deer have died out before on Exmoor but were reintroduced merely so they could be hunted, not as a tourist attraction. Of course, hunters will shoot the deer if hunting is banned. This proves that hunting with hounds is entirely irrelevant and purely done to satisfy a blood lust. Len Short, Torquay
Looking after moor - I WAS interested to hear that areas of Dartmoor that have suffered most from too many people walking over them have recovered considerably. It did rather amuse me to see that walkers were being thanked for keeping off the moors in order to assist in their regeneration... Michael Ashton, Torrington
Listen to the facts - THE Government is struggling to deal with its own serious problems so what does dear Tony decide to do? Why give those country types another kicking... Gary Burgess, Exeter (letters)
Western Morning News 26.3.02 Missing ministers - MR Blair may not be concerned about what is likely to happen to the troops he is sending to war, but like many others, I am. I was horrified to see how few MPs were in the chamber to discuss this very important issue and it turns out that Blair and most of his Cabinet were preoccupied with fox hunting... Michael Ashton, Torrington (letter)

ThisIsDevon (Exeter Express & Echo, Western Morning News, Torquay Herald Express, Plymouth Evening Herald, North Devon Journal) 26.3.02 HUNT SUPPORTER SHOULD BE AWARE OF THE FACTS - I claimed in Points of view, March 20, that pro-hunting letters were now only being written by an ill-informed fringe, the real hunting fraternity having given up in the face of an impending ban or curtailment of the sport. The case was proved for me admirably by the publication, immediately below mine, of a letter from G Paddon.... Dr John Pamment, Clyst Heath, Exeter (letter)
ThisIsDevon (Exeter Express & Echo, Western Morning News, Torquay Herald Express, Plymouth Evening Herald, North Devon Journal) 26.3.02 KILLING FOR KILLING'S SAKE NOT CIVILISED BEHAVIOUR - In reply to Tim Faulkner, Points of view, March 9, on shooting, how can he say that those who oppose hunting are ignorant or sentimental.... Mrs Liz Spry, Bodley Close, Exeter (letter)
ThisIsDevon ThisIsDevon (Exeter Express & Echo, Plymouth Evening Herald, Torquay Herald Express, Western Morning News, North Devon Journal) 12.3.02 GAME SHOOTING SHOULD BE SEEN AS MANAGEMENT - I would like to add my voice to that of Tim Faulkner's, Points of view, March 9... Anyone who would ban game shooting but continues to buy their meat from the supermarket should take a long hard look at their ethics... Pip Bowhay, Kenton, Exeter (letter)
ThisIsDevon ThisIsDevon (Exeter Express & Echo, Plymouth Evening Herald, Torquay Herald Express, Western Morning News, North Devon Journal) 9.3.02 NOT LIKING HUNTING IS NO REASON TO CRIMINALISE IT - Having had a recent conversation with a woman who disapproves of shooting because she does not agree that we should kill or eat any animals, I have been forcibly struck by the wildly opposing views that we as a society hold.... However, it is worth remembering that in an NOP poll in April 2001, 36 per cent voted for hunting to be controlled by licensing, 22 per cent wanted the existing self-regulation to remain and only 37 per cent opted for it to be made a criminal offence. Tim Faulkner, Mamhead, Exeter (letter)

Manchester Evening Post 26.3.02 - THE Lords will never pass a total ban on hunting as long as the royals participate in it.... Live And Let Live, Burnage. (letter may be in archive)

Bath Chronicle 26.3.02 DO MPS ONLY CARE FOR ANIMALS WHEN IT SUITS THEM? - I was pleasantly surprised to see the wide majority that the vote on a ban on hunting with dogs received... SUE BRADLEY Bath Green Party Bath (letter)

Irish Times 26.3.02 DECLINE OF THE HARE - Sir, - As a small landowner in Co Meath, I am concerned at how wild, lowland hares appear to be disappearing from the Irish countryside... If no immediate Government action is taken to control, and preferably stop, the widespread netting (and use) of hares for coursing here, I expect the situation to get progressively worse... (letter)

Lincolnshire Echo 26.3.02 HELICOPTER SCRAMBLED - An 'eye in the sky' has been used Lincolnshire Police for the first time in the fight against illegal hare coursing gangs... (story)

Edinburgh News 26.3.02 Urban mink makes fur fly at farm By GARETH MACKIE and STEPHANIE TODD - As well as the the city’s urban foxes, urban mink have now made an appearance - and a family of the aggressive predators are thought to be on the prowl after a rabbit was attacked at Gorgie City Farm. The public have been warned not to approach mink...(story)
Ananova 26.3.02 Rabbit becomes prey of urban mink in Edinburgh - A rabbit on an Edinburgh city farm has been attacked by a wild mink. It the first recorded case of a mink attacking domestic animals or pets in urban Edinburgh...(story)

Ananova 26.3.02 'Sheep' squeeze into tube carriage for protest - More than 150 protesters have crammed into a Tube carriage dressed as sheep to campaign against the live export of animals... Joyce D'Silva, director of CIWF, said: "We chose a 72-hour period as this is the time it can take for British lambs to be transported from this country to Italy or Spain where they are often slaughtered in appalling conditions." (story)

Cambridge News 26.3.02 Protest lock-out by NFU - ANIMAL rights protesters in Saffron Walden were barred from entering the National Farmers' Union (NFU) offices in Fairycroft Road when they staged a demonstration protesting at live animal exports. Sue Hughes, of Comp-assion in World Farming (CWF), said: "I think locking all the doors and windows was pathetic." (story in archive)

Scotsman 25.3.02 FRASER NELSON'S WEEK IN POLITICS: The growl that tells us the Commons is coming alive again - FOR THE first time in maybe nine years, the House of Commons is becoming dangerous. Whispers of mutiny are becoming audible; the awkward squad is recruiting. For a Prime Minister, it is an ugly sight... there are Establishment figures such as Gerald Kaufman, the former Labour minister, who is now promising to "rebel with a vengeance" if foxhunting is not banned outright. He would, he says, withdraw his support for other legislation... (story)

Glasgow Herald 25.3.02 Fox hunt lobby vows to fight on - ANNETTE McCANN - COUNTRYSIDE campaigners at an event billed as the blood sport's swan song will issue a defiant warning to the Scottish Executive today when they signal their determination to push ahead with a legal challenge to the new law banning fox hunting. More than 140 riders are expected to gather for the Duke of Buccleuch Hunt in the Borders, which under the new legislation is likely to be the last fox hunt in Scotland before the act comes into force next season... (story in archive)

Guardian 25.3.02 Comment - Endpiece - Labour must decide whether it backs the haves or the have-nots - Roy Hattersley - Huntsmen of the world unite. You fight for more than the right to pursue small furry animals to the death. The battle over the wildlife bill is the last stand of the aristocracy. We have the Earl of Onslow's word for it... (story)
Guardian 25.3.02 Swimming losing fight against a tidal wave of ineptitude - Kate Hoey - Last week I was in the same voting lobby as the Conservative MP Anne Winterton to oppose a ban on hunting. It wasn't the first time we had cooperated. Just over 10 years ago I was a sponsor to a bill she introduced in parliament to make swimming a compulsory element in the national curriculum for all primary school children... If only foxes would use local pools then maybe government would treat swimming as a priority (story)

Yorkshire Post 25.3.02 Middle way move on hunting is a poor compromise From: J Toulson-Clarke, Oaktree House, Egton Bridge, Whitby. Sir, – As a former master of foxhunt, I hope that body and the Countryside Alliance don't fall for the suggestion that the Government might back a middle way to allow hunting to continue under licence, provided stag hunting and hare coursing are sacrificed... (story)

Newcastle Journal 25.3.02 Good times are galloping back after foot-and-mouth ... The Duke of Northumberland threw open the gates to Hulne Park, Alnwick, to benefit regional charities as the annual Percy Ride drew in enthusiasts from the North-East and Borders... Also out was Martin Claxton, huntsman for the Percy Hunt, who said: "It's always a pleasure to ride here, especially after such a poor year for horseriding."... (story)
Western Daily Press 25.3.02 BADGERS 'DIE IN HUNT BAN DELAY' - Scores of badgers will be killed because a ban on fox hunting has been delayed, campaigners said last night... Dr Elaine King, chief executive of the National Federation of Badger Groups, said: "Legal hunting of foxes with terriers and lurchers also provides many unscrupulous people with a cover for illegal hunting of badgers."... (story)

Western Daily Press 25.3.02 WRONG TO DO A DEAL ON HUNTING - PAMELA DEAN, Field Road, Whiteshill, Nr Stroud (letter)
Western Daily Press 25.3.02 KILLING FIELDS WILL HAVE TO GO ... My stepfather was a whipper-in for several hunts, so my early life was spent in hunting communities... Farmers are paid for looking after foxes, cubs are bred and looked after for cub hunting and as regards stag hunting, it's terrible... F E Hopkins Melksham Wiltshire (story)
Western Daily Press 25.3.02 YOUR LOSS IF THE HUNTS DISAPPEAR - Before people leap off the sofa to vote for a ban on fox hunting, here are a few things they may like to consider... Polly Whittaker, aged 13 Address supplied (letter)
Western Daily Press 25.3.02 OUT OF TOUCH WITH REAL PROBLEMS - What is more important to our country, hunting foxes or our elderly citizens?.. I'm not for hunting, but with the state of the NHS and the care of our elderly I would like to see the Government doing more to protect and help pensioners... P Stoodley Shepton Mallet Somerset (letter)
Western Daily Press 25.3.02 FOOD FOR THOUGHT - What nonsense of R Pitman on March 15 to suggest that Tony Banks should ban hawks... The hunting fraternity kills for pleasure and a day's sport... R Brown Ston Easton Somerset (letter)
Western Daily Press 25.3.02 WHAT ABOUT OUR PRIORITIES? We have an NHS which is falling apart, a railway network which equals something from a Third World country, street crime and antisocial behaviour at an all-time high, drugs dealers operating with seeming impunity... And what is this Government and the do-gooders worried about? Banning the hunting of animals with dogs. I do wish people would get their priorities right. Gerald Board Weston-super-Mare (letter)

Worcester Evening News 25.3.02 How can hunts help improve hare's welfare? - I SEE that J Burgess is once again attempting to belittle Anita Knittel by trotting out so-called facts and figures supposedly applauding cruelty to the hare population... MARION LARGE, Worcester. (letter in archive)
Worcester Evening News 16.3.02 She doesn't understand wildlife or rural scene - A KNITTEL queries J Burgess' statement on hare coursing and hunting (You Say, March 6)... Where legal hare coursing takes place, landowners preserve the required habitat to encourage the hare population, of which only a small percentage are killed... G HARTWRIGHT, Crowle, Worcester. (letter in archive)
Worcester Evening News 13.3.02 Hare coursing a force for good - ANITA Knittel (You Say, March 6) displays her confusion about conservation of the hare and coursing. The Government sponsored Game Conservancy Trust have made quite clear that neither hunting nor coursing pose a threat to the hare population... JON BURGESS, Malvern. (letter in archive)
Worcester Evening News 6.3.02 He's running with the hare - IT seems somewhat bizarre for J Burgess to claim that hare coursing and hunting is responsible for an increase in the hare population (You Say, February 4) when on the other hand the blood sports brigade says that fox hunting is necessary to keep fox numbers under control… A KNITTEL, Worcester. (letter in archive)

North Devon Journal 25.3.02 HUNTING DEBATE: STARK CHOICES - A middle-way or a "war of attrition" could now be the stark choices in the hunting debate, the MP for North Devon said yesterday... Nick Harvey, who voted in the House of Commons against a total ban, but in favour of the status quo and licensed hunting, felt the change in the House of Lords was significant.... (story)

ThisIsDevon (Exeter Express & Echo, Western Morning News, North Devon Journal, Torquay Herald Express, Plymouth Evening Herald) 25.3.02 HUNT THREAT 'ARMY' WAITS IN THE WINGS - BY PHIL LAVER - SOUTH Devon hunt enthusiasts have vowed to join a march of a million countryside supporters following the latest threat to the future of the sport... The South Devon Hunt has been accused of endangering the lives of pregnant animals on a smallholding near Haytor. But the hunt was quick to insist it was not aware of any incident and no complaints had been received... (story)
ThisIsDevon (Exeter Express & Echo, Western Morning News, North Devon Journal, Torquay Herald Express, Plymouth Evening Herald) 25.3.02 FOX TOOK MINUTES TO DIE IN ATTACK BY HOUNDS - Let's have an end to unnecessary suffering to animals as described by an RSPCA inspector on the post-mortem of a fox by a vet... Basically this animal took minutes to die. It wasn't killed immediately as the hunts say they often are. M Waycott, Littleham, Exmouth (letter)

North Devon Journal 25.3.02 POETIC THOUGHTS ON HOW THE POACHERS MIGHT MOVE IN - If HUNTING were to be banned, we are very worried about the activities of poachers. In that context, I thought Journal readers might be interested in this poem by my son Sean... ALBERT BEER, Stoke Rivers. (letter)

Bolton Evening News 25.3.02 Forget foxes and go after the gangs - ALTHOUGH fox hunting is not something I would ever endorse, I can't help thinking that the current time is not a good one for our elected representatives to be discussing the matter... A matter of much more concern is that in areas of this town and many others, many people, especially the elderly are scared to leave their houses after night fall... Also if it is banned, who is going to police this ban, when the police force already struggles to enforce the laws we already have. John Maher, Loweswater Rd, Farnworth, Bolton (letter in archive)

Shropshire Star 25.3.02 We know priorities of Labour - The Government has refused to have a public enquiry on the foot and mouth crisis... It has consistently underfunded residential and nursing beds for the elderly... 1,700 troops are being sent to fight in Afghanistan with no debate in Parliament, and why? Because for five hours Labour MPs were expressing their class war credentials in a debate on hunting... Kath Owen, Shrewsbury (letter in archive)
Shropshire Star 25.3.02 Scrap hunt and love all animals - With reference to Georgina Hirst's opinion on banning the hunt. She writes: "I have learnt so much from it." Can I ask: What exactly do you learn from killing that defenceless fox?.. B Glaze, Woodside, Telford (letter in archive)

Barnet & Potters Bar Citizen 25.3.02 Why can't MP Sir Sydney support his constituents? The Tory MP for Chipping Barnet, Sir Sydney Chapman, has once again defied the wishes of the majority of the population and of his constituents by voting to support the cruel sport of hunting with hounds... Brian M Jacobs, Chairman, Animal Aid, Great Bushey Drive, Totteridge (letter in archive)

Swindon Evening Advertiser 25.3.02 People do care about animals ... We cannot call ourselves a compassionate society if we continue to allow a minority of people to carry on rampaging around our countryside, causing havoc and getting away with inflicting cruelty on animals in the name of sport. M HOOPER, Freshbrook Wa, Swindon (letter in archive)

Manchester Evening Post 25.3.02 ... If fox hunting is allowed to remain within the law, it just becomes licensed cruelty... Observer, Prestwich (letter may be in archive)

North West Evening Mail 25.3.02 HUNTING OF FOXES IS FOR POSH PEOPLE ... Labour is right to kick it in the rubbish bin of history. Fox-hunting is for the posh, not us. CLIFFORD POSTLETHWAITE, Brathay Crescent, Barrow (letter)

Belfast Telegraph 25.3.02 Common ground - It seems that the only subject on which assembly members are totally agreed is the right to hunt with dogs (belfast telegraph, march 10). We are told that there is no majority in favour of a ban on this type of hunting, by a member of the Countryside Alliance. I would point out that most of the voters are in favour of a ban... R. STEELE, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim.(letter)

Peterborough Evening Telegraph 25.3.02 POETRY: Fox-hunters' fury at anti-sport verse - THE city´s poet laureate has provoked outrage among fox-hunters by launching a scathing attack on their pursuit. But today George Bowyer, the joint master of the Fitzwilliam Hunt, accused Mr Wright of stepping outside his brief by using his position to air his personal views... (story in archive)

North West Evening Mail 25.3.02 EURO-MP WARNS OF ANIMAL SLAUGHTER TAXATION - EURO-MP is warning Barrow taxpayers that they are unknowingly paying for animals to be cruelly treated and slaughtered. Liberal Democrat Chris Davies wants to make his constituents aware that taxes are spent on the export of live cattle to countries where they may brutally slaughtered... (story)

Exeter Express & Echo 25.3.02 LIVESTOCK MARKET TARGET FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS PROTESTERS BY CATHERINE JONES - Animal rights campaigners were mounting a demonstration at Exeter Livestock Market today. The rally is part of 72 hours of action across Britain to protest against the resumption of the live animal export trade... The Exeter protest is being organised by the Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) group, which launched its national action on Saturday. Devon organiser Margaret Gibbins said many people were expected to join in... (story)

Richmond & Twickenham Times 25.3.02 Sir,-The welcome end of the foot and mouth epidemic brings with it one real danger - the resumption of the cruel live animal export trade… Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) investigations have revealed that animals suffer terribly during the long journeys to southern Europe…. Diana Preddle, Church Avenue, East Sheen. (letter)

The Sentinel (Stoke on Trent) 25.3.02 WE NEEDN'T BE PIG IGNORANT - Sir, - British industrial pig farmers try to have us believe that they meet high welfare standards, but this is far from the truth. The vegetarian and animal charity Viva! has over the past year filmed inside pig farms, and has revealed shocking images of cruelty... PAUL CLARKSON Address supplied (letter)

Sunday Telegraph 24.3.02 Drag hunts in the New Forest end in fiasco by Daniel Foggo - A FLAGSHIP drag hunt in the New Forest, which has been praised by ministers and anti-hunting campaigners, has collapsed in chaos after organisers admitted that the hounds could not be prevented from chasing deer. The drag hunt, in which hounds are supposed to follow an aniseed trail instead of an animal, was sponsored by the RSPCA and backed by Elliot Morley, the agriculture minister, when trials were launched three years ago... Michael Thomas, the joint master of the New Forest Draghounds, however, has now said that the hunt will no longer continue to operate in the New Forest because trials had ended in chaos and the area is often crowded with picnickers and walkers... One observer present at the recent trial said "...The drag had become a farce, with the hounds so uninterested in the aniseed trail left for them they sometimes had to be led by the huntsmen on horseback, which is completely the wrong way around. All along the trials have been a failure because so few people turned up or took an interest."(story)

Scotland on Sunday 24.3.02 Football, fishing and fiscal decisions - over a fine malt whisky - Notebook - By charlie Whelan ... THE WESTMINSTER parliament is now going through all the traumas the Scottish parliament went through a few months ago. They now want to ban fox hunting in England and Wales... I still can’t understand why so many MPs who live in the towns are so keen to stop a county pursuit. One London MP told me that it was because the majority of his constituents wanted fox hunting banned. When I pointed out that they also wanted to bring back hanging he quickly changed the subject.... (story)

Sunday Times 24.3.02 Europe wants vets to go on grouse shoots - Martin Jay - BLOOD SPORTS enthusiasts may have to take veterinary surgeons on pheasant and grouse shoots under controversial new health and hygiene rules planned by the European Union... quotes from Robert Goodwill, a Conservative MEP and gamekeeper, Tim Hogarth, of the Countryside Alliance, John Swift, of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (story)

People 24.3.02 WRITE PEOPLE: BRITS JUST AS CRUEL AS US AS a Korean national I was very disturbed by the letters in Pets And Their People about my country's practice of boiling cats. People in Britain boil alive shellfish and I find your experiments with live animals abhorrent. In Europe legs are pulled off live frogs to eat. Are these practices so very different? Ahn Meng Kyung, Grouville, Jersey (letter in archive)

Sunday Sun 24.3.02 Docks hit by animal rights protest - More than 200 animal rights campaigners have begun a 72-hour vigil in a bid to have live animal exports banned... (story)
Scotland on Sunday 24.3.02 Animal rights vigil - MORE than 200 animal rights campaigners yesterday began a 72-hour vigil in Dover in a bid to ban live animal exports... Compassion in World Farming said the movement of animals could resume as soon as Tuesday... (story)
Ananova 23.3.02 Protest over live animal exports stepped up - More than 200 animal rights campaigners have begun a 72-hour vigil in a bid to have live animal exports banned. The protest at Dover Eastern Docks, in Kent, follows a tip-off that the trade could restart this week... Joyce D'Silva, director of Compassion in World Farming, says the 72 hours of events throughout the UK are to represent the amount of time some animals are forced to travel across Europe in cramped conditions... (story)

Guardian 23.3.02 March madness - Blair holds the cards despite Tory revival - Leader ... The combination of Mittalgate, the Byers affair, and above all a sequence of real or perceived crises in health, transport, and law and order, have taken a huge toll on Labour's already damaged reputation for probity and competence. Mr Blair's handling of the post-September 11 crisis, which had seemed to make him impregnable in the autumn, could now be the very issue which has begun to turn both party and country against him in the spring. The momentum of events has clearly shifted, with every fresh issue - hunting is the latest example - fuelling the sense that this is a government that has lost its confidence and grasp... (story)
Guardian 23.3.02 Toff hunting - Just as Mr Blair was heading a forum to address the overwhelming crime problem in this country, his backbenchers were pushing for legislation that would swell the ranks of criminals... Jessica Leigh-Pemberton, Faringdon, Oxonm (letter)

Lincolnshire Echo 23.3.02 ISN'T IT TIME TO BLOW WHISTLE ON HUNTING? - Parliament has a rare ability to turn what should be interesting subjects into incomprehensible political goobledegook. Take hunting. A straightforward issue, most of us think... It has become this Government's equivalent of a well chewed slipper, faithfully carried around, occasionally dropped, losing bits along the way, but ultimately finding its way back home... (story)

Western Morning News 23.3.02 PROTESTERS PREPARING TO TAKE TO THE STREETS - Residents of Exford, who saw their march on London postponed last year because of the foot and mouth crisis, are preparing to descend on the capital to defend their way of life... (story)
Western Morning News 23.3.02 HUNT BAN ROW HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN - Whatever one thinks of the merits of the Government's case for banning hunting with dogs, the manner in which this issue has been handled in recent weeks has been appalling - and almost certainly damaging to New Labour... (story)

Worcester Evening News 23.3.02 Ex-huntsman backs bloodsports ban - A FORMER huntsman turned anti-hunt protester helped drum up support for a bloodsport ban when he held a demonstration in Worcester. Richard Britton said scores of people signed leaflets in protest against foxhunting when he set up a stall outside the Guildhall yesterday... "I was around 24 when I stopped hunting," said Mr Britton, of Martley... (story in archive)
Worcester Evening News 23.3.02 Credit to Mr Foster ... I have a go at him because he wasted of a great opportunity to do something really good for our country. Instead, he has advocated a ban on hunting. However, it's a credit to him that he is now doing something about trying to get extra funding for the less well off areas of Worcester... PETER ALCOCK, Upton Snodsbury. (letter in archive)
Worcester Evening News 23.3.02 Why not use the law? ... The foxhunting issue comes up again and again with arguments on both sides. The solution is this - the powers held by RSPCA at the moment allows prosecution for cruelty to animals, so why are these powers not used? If foxes are so cruelly treated, then the hunts should be prosecuted.... KEN NASON, Cradley, near Malvern. (letter in archive)

Western Daily Press 23.3.02 SHRILL DEBATE ALREADY SOLVED ... No one seems to care that the Burns Report, commissioned by the Government, found no clear grounds for a ban on hunting and that in our usually tolerant society a ban would be an infringement of people's liberty, the imposition of prejudice on a significant minority.... (letter)
Western Daily Press 23.3.02 BEWARE LONG TERM EFFECTS ... The countryside is a living working beast, it must not be put in jeopardy. Please be aware of the dreadful results of tampering with an ecosystem that works (letter)
Western Daily Press 23.3.02 ANY KIND OF HUNT BAN WILL NOT SOLVE PROBLEMS ... With recent opinion polls showing ever decreasing support for a ban on hunting with dogs, the rural community and the Countryside Alliance look to Parliament to settle this issue once and for all, and in such a way that reconciles both human rights and animal welfare. (letter)
Western Daily Press 23.3.02 NO ROOM FOR SYMPATHY TOWARDS DESTRUCTIVE FOX - I agree wholeheartedly with R Pitman's letter in the WDP on March 11. WT Corbett, Andrew Banks and the like know nothing about country life.A pity they don't turn their thoughts and energy towards protecting young children and old folk from thugs, perverts and thieves... Name and address supplied (letter)

ThisIsGloucestershire (Western Daily Press, Gloucester Echo, Gloucester Citizen) 23.3.02 HORSE AND HOUND DESERVE A THOUGHT - In all the arguments for and against fox hunting and hunting with dogs, I have never heard anybody put forward the question about cruelty to the hounds and horses. Don't the animal rights protectors realise that all the hounds a