HUNT SABOTEURS WELCOME FIRST PUBLIC PROSECUTION

Hunt Saboteurs welcome first public prosecution of Hunters, Arkangel for Animal Liberation

The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) of the UK has welcomed the news that, for the first time since the Hunting Act became law, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), together with Avon and Somerset Police, will bring the first public prosecution against two hunt staff. Maurice Scott, Master of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, and Peter Heard, a member of hunt staff, will both appear before Taunton Deane Magistrates charged with hunting a wild mammal with dogs.
The charge relates to an incident back in April 2006, and is the first publicly brought case under the Act, as two previous cases have been brought privately by the League Against Cruel Sports.

Dawn Preston, spokesperson for the HSA, stated "At last we see the police taking action, and not a minute too soon. One full season has already gone by without any public cases being brought, and this could have been seen to send a very worrying message out to the hunts that continue to hunt illegally. This case should hopefully start to hammer the message home that hunting was banned because the majority of the population do not want to see bloodsports practised."

Ms. Preston continued 'The Countryside Alliance continue to provide 'guidance' on hunting within the law, but we can see here, as with the two cases brought by the League Against Cruel Sports, that the only way you can hunt safely within the law is to leave the wild animal out of the equation. That was the point of the law in the first place, but it seems to be a point that the hunting fraternity have so far failed to grasp.

One report of the charging of the Master of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds lamented the fact that he had spent 2 and a half hours in a police cell prior to being charged. We fail to see what could possibly be surprising about that - it is alleged that Maurice Scott broke the law, and as such he should be treated like a criminal."

On the 4th August this year Tony Wright, a huntsman with the Exmoor Foxhounds, was found guilty of breaching the Hunting Act of 2004 after the League Against Cruel Sports brought a private prosecution against him. League monitors had filmed Mr. Wright hunting foxes. Douglas Batchelor, chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports said at the time: "The message from this case is absolutely clear: it is a crime to chase a fox with hounds. People who hunt do so because they wish to torment a fox. The Hunting Act has taken away their playtime. "I would now expect the police to be visiting their local hunts to make it clear that they are not allowed to pursue foxes. If we become aware of other hunts acting illegally we will have no hesitation in passing on the information to the appropriate authorities."

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