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A great day for wildlife
The Hunting Bill came into force at midnight on February
18, 2005. This is the story of the long campaign that made it happen:
The passing of the Hunting Bill in November 2004
represents an historic victory for animal protection. It shows how
justice and compassion can eventually succeed, even if it takes
a long time for them to do so.
If you sometimes despair over whether barbaric practices like vivisection
will ever be outlawed, imagine the situation in the UK eighty odd
years ago for those who opposed hunting. The Great War had ended
and many survivors longed to re-establish the perceived order and
stability of the pre-war years. Hunting formed an important part
of traditional life. 'Country sports' enjoyed enormous popularity.
In the 1920s, the Waterloo Cup - the annual gathering of hare coursers
and their supporters - was one of the best attended sporting events
in the world. In 1927, 8,000 people were reported to have been at
the opening meet of the Quorn Hunt in Leicestershire, at which the
Prince of Wales rode to hounds.
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Although some members of the hunting community have vowed to break
the new law, and carefully monitoring will remain a campaigning
priority, the Hunting Bill remains a major breakthrough for animal
protection.
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| This was the world in which the League
Against Cruel Sports was formed in 1924 (or the League for the Prohibition
of Cruel Sports as it was called until 1943). Although there was
significant support for the Society's views - it boasted 2,000 members
by 1930 - it had little prospect of legislative progress. It did,
however, cause sufficient concern amongst pro-hunt interests for
them to form their own organisation to defend their 'sport'. The
British Field Sports Society continued from 1930 into the 1990s,
when, in a society that had grown increasingly hostile to its agenda,
it became the Countryside Alliance - a cynical attempt to present
its single-issue obsession as a concern for wider rural interests.
First hopes of success
By the end of the Second World War, attitudes to hunting had altered
dramatically. Rather than the longing for an idealised past that
followed the 1914-18 conflict, the prevailing mood was for change
to a more democratic society. A radical Labour Party government
was elected, committed to fighting poverty and privilege. For many
MPs, the abolition of hunting was an important part of their opposition
to a world based on class. Two backbenchers introduced Private Member's
Bills, drawing widespread support from parliamentarians and furious
protest from hunting interests. The main defences offered for bloodsports
were strikingly similar to the pathetic arguments put forward today.
Freedom for the individual to decide whether or not to chase and
kill wild animals was demanded. This call was endorsed by The Times
newspaper. Incredibly, the RSPCA also supported hunting.
Hopes of a ban were squashed when the government withdrew its backing.
It was worried that farmers would carry out a threat to withdraw
from the national plan to make Britain more self-sufficient in food
production if hunting was outlawed. Instead, it set up a committee
to investigate the issue. The eight-person team was heavily biased
in favour of the status quo and included the vice-president of the
British Field Sports Society. The Scott Henderson Report (named
after the Chairman) was eventually published in 1951 and concluded
that badger digging 'need not involve any excessive suffering' and
that accounts of cruelty during hunting were 'exaggerated'. While
it did contain some positive proposals, recommending a ban on the
gin trap (abolished in 1958) and snaring of deer (outlawed in 1963),
its ignorant and outdated attitudes to wildlife were used disastrously
to defend inhumane practices for a further 50 years.
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Organised opposition to hunting goes back much further than 1924.
The puritanical sounding Society for the Suppression of Vice - formed
in 1802 - ran the first organised campaign, followed later in the
century by the pioneering Humanitarian League. It was the latter
who first used the word 'bloodsports' to describe hunting |
Slow progress
As with many areas of social progress, the 1950s saw little advance
and the 1960s the beginning of change. The formation of the Hunt
Saboteurs (1963) and the new strategy of the League Against Cruel
Sports to purchase land in key positions to foil the hunt (begun
in 1959) brought fresh impetus to the campaign. But undoubtedly
the most important switch of policy by an animal welfare organisation
came in 1976, when, after a bitter internal battle, the RSPCA at
last announced its opposition to fox hunting.
As animal welfare became a more popular concern, political progress
also began to be made. The first in a series of Badgers Acts led
to an eventual ban on digging out and baiting, and otter hunting
was made illegal in 1978. Hare coursing was almost outlawed as well,
when the House of Commons passed a Labour Government Bill in 1975.
As with the current Hunting Bill, however, the House of Lords rejected
the proposal, one peer declaring that a ban would make the law 'a
gibbering lunatic'. Unlike the current Bill, the Upper House had
its way when the government dropped its proposal.
Throughout the Thatcher years the campaign against hunting gathered
strength, particularly after several high profile undercover investigations
in which campaigners infiltrated hunts and demonstrated the barbarity
of the practice. Mike Huskisson's courageous exposure of the Quorn
hunt - of which the Prince of Wales was a member - proved particularly
influential. Video of a fox cub being dug out and thrown to the
hounds to be torn apart was shown on national television news, causing
public outrage.
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There was even the equivalent of hunt saboteurs in the early 19th
century. Strong-smelling pickled herrings (which turn a brownish
red colour after salting and smoking) were laid across the likely
trail of hounds because the powerful smell masked the scent of the
fox. It is from this method of protest that the common phrase "red
herring" - meaning a misleading clue - is thought to have derived. |
An inspirational ban
In 1995, a Private Member's Bill to abolish hunting with dogs passed
through the House of Commons for the first time, supported by 30
Conservative MPs. Even though it took a further decade for the Hunting
Bill to gain Royal Assent, this was effectively the beginning of
the end. Backbench MPs voted several times and by a massive majority
on each occasion to enforce a ban and were determined to resist
opposition, whether it came from the Lords, vested interests or
government.
And so, at the end of 2004, the dedicated campaigning of thousands
over more than a century was rewarded with the passing of legislation.
Even though the considerable influence of hunt supporters means
that victory cannot be guaranteed until all potential legal loopholes
have been exhausted, the law now stigmatises as criminals those
who chase animals and then kill them for fun.
It may have been (and may continue to be) a long, hard
struggle, but the passing of the Hunting Bill should be an inspiration
to all who continue to fight other forms of cruelty. Every ounce
of effort is worth it in the end - even though you might not be
around to witness every victory!
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Much of the information for this article was
taken from Animal Century - a celebration of changing attitudes
to animals by Mark Gold, available from the Animal Aid online
shop at a special discount price of £10.50.
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