Photos courtesy of IFAW

When I qualified over thirteen years ago I worked in an area where stag hunting was rife and spent many a frustrating working day trying to get to farm calls on roads clogged by the hordes of onlookers as some doomed animal or other was chased in the name of sport or, more spuriously, ‘pest control’ or, more truthfully and despicably, for human entertainment.

I have never understood the human desire to kill and found it impossible to believe that I lived in a country which claimed to be among the forerunners when it came to animal welfare matters but which still allowed hunting with dogs.

Not just stag hunting, which most people easily see as abhorrent, but also the hunting of foxes and coursing of hares. Having seen all these activities first hand I can tell you that there is nothing sporting about it, it is proven to be an ineffective method of pest control and there have been masses of evidence gathered over the years which show that it is unjustifiable.

Hunts have also been caught actively encouraging so called vermin to breed in some cases purely in order to satisfy the need to hunt them. In fact the European Court of Human Rights, in recently ruling that the hunting act did not breach human rights, concluded that the ban had been designed to eliminate the hunting and killing of animals for sport in a manner ‘causing suffering and being morally objectionable’.

I became involved with a multi-organisation effort to get hunting with dogs banned once and for all. As well being unnecessary, obviously cruel and ineffective the practice has, for years, been detrimental to our efforts as a nation to improve animal welfare abroad. This may sound odd but how on earth can Britain tell Japan, for example, that it should not be whaling when they can easily come back at us that we should get our own house in order first before we start lecturing others?

Being involved in this effort put me in some infuriating situations, frayed my emotional well-being and put me in some very frightening situations such as being with IFAW’s hunt monitors and seeing the very base, evil side of the type of people who participate in such ‘sports’. And so it was with HUGE relief and joy that I watched the law get passed to ban hunting with dogs as of February 2005.

So why am I talking about it again now you may ask? Because thousands of people, myself included, who invested their time, emotions and effort into making it a thing of the past now face the possibility that if a Conservative government comes to power the ban could be overturned. The thought of such a massive step backwards for the country as a whole is totally unbelievable and would be devastating, not only for the animals which will suddenly be back under threat of a spectacularly cruel death, but for our reputation internationally.

The fact is that recent polling commissioned by IFAW shows that the majority of Conservative voters do not want a return to hunting and the vast majority of the general public certainly do not either. The government has launched a campaign to ‘Back the Ban’ to make sure there can be no doubt about the strength of feeling on this issue. I would strongly suggest that if you too feel that we should not even be entertaining the idea of lifting the ban then click here www.backtheban.com to show your support. In fact, if you’re a Conservative and you feel the same way you can also let your party know how you feel by visiting www.conservativesagainstfoxhunting.com too.

Entering a new year and a new decade we should be full of hope for a brighter future for all so let’s concentrate on that rather than letting ourselves slide back into the dark days of killing animals for fun.

Here’s to a happy and hopeful 2010!

Bye for now

Emma