HUNT SAYS IT IS STICKING TO THE 'NONSENSE' LAW

Charley Morgan, Wiltshire Times

HUNTING supporters are backing a Devon huntsman convicted of breaking the hunting ban last week.

Exmoor Foxhounds huntsman Tony Wright, 52, was fined £500 and ordered to pay £250 costs at Barnstable magistrates' court after denying hunting a fox last April contrary to the Hunting Act 2004.

The Duke of Beaufort's Hunt expressed dismay at the decision of the courts after a private prosecution by the League Against Cruel Sports.
Jo Aldridge, of the Beaufort Hunt said: "I think he was trying, and he believed, he was hunting within the law.

"He had two hounds and he was flushing through a gun.
"He was not trying to break the law he was trying to stick within the law, but it is very confusing.The law is very difficult to understand. We do regard it as a temporary ban because it's such a nonsense of a law and not good for animal welfare.

"We are all hunting within the law and using the various exemptions that allow us to do that. With the Beaufort it is mainly trail hunting or hound exercise now.

"I think the most important thing is that, despite the result in Exmoor, we are not downhearted in any way and we intend to keep the show on the road."

Cpt Ian Farquhar, master of foxhounds at the Beaufort Hunt, appeared as an expert witness in the case in Devon and explained there were different ways of flushing' a fox and the one used on Exmoor was the only practical option for that area.

Animal rights groups argue that if a fox is hunted it should be shot by a gun as soon as possible after it is flushed out of its hiding place and that Mr Wright did not do this.

Jonathon Seed, master of the Avon Vale Hunt, said: "The verdict was a very narrow interpretation of a very narrow part of the legislation.

"It will be appealed against and one of the grounds is that if somebody believes they are taking part in legal hunting then it is not illegal.

"The League may say they have a success but it is an own goal because it will make people more determined.

"We have had considerably more people interested in hunting since the ban, people who were ambivalent before but now think it should not have been banned."

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