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(not satire)
We’re constantly told the debate about hunting is a matter of rural opinion vs urban opinion.
Well not according to a poll by IPSOS MORI.
According to their survey which was released on Boxing Day, exactly the same percentage of rural inhabitants – 80% – are against fox hunting as urban inhabitants – also 80%.
And slightly more people who live in the country (89% and 94%) are against hare coursing and badger baiting than townies (87% and 92%).
The truth is that the Countryside Alliance and the National Farmers Union are not representative of rural opinion.
In fact the NFU is not even representative of farmers – they represent a mere 18% of them:
Most farmers support the badger cull? Erm, no actually, they don’t.
But the question is, if the public in both rural and urban areas is so solidly against fox hunting, why are we still debating this issue and why are there so few prosecutions?
Could it be because the police and the courts are scared stiff of moving against the powerful people who still like to indulge in this cruel activity?
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Related articles by Tom Pride:
Eton teaches pupils how to break the law and illegally hunt hares
The press is lying. National Trust members DIDN’T vote against a ban on culling badgers
6 facts that PROVE the Tories are leading the GREENEST government ever!
Toffs more likely to cheat, defect and be traitors (so Cameron’s in trouble)
Where are all the left-wing rebellious Old-Etonians? Or are they all brainwashed?
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Please feel free to comment.
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Pride's Purge 
A bit like the people who were scared stiff of speaking out against Jimmy Saville, Cyril Smith etc.etc. etc.
Children, animals, the meek and the poor it seems, do not matter much to the ruling establishment.
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It’s no surprise that rural dwellers don’t like fox hunting, hare coursing etc. It is we who are frightened for our pets and animals; whose footpaths and land is chewed up/barged over without regard; who are intimidated by the noise of all those dogs, horses and yahoo Henrys in full cry. We, who can’t get back home because of lanes congested with horse boxes and hunt followers. It is we, the rural dwellers, who are patronised and discounted.
I remember on one occasion, the pack and perhaps 15 riders on their foam-dripping horses decided to stop immediately outside my front door which opens directly onto a public footpath. Bad manners, yes, but also highly intimidating. When I complained, a Cameron look alike was sent in full gear to apologise.. I remember the little gold chain curling around his snowy cravat…
Disraeli was right, there are two co-existing populations and the rich do not share our world in any respect but an occasional foray into the same physical space. And when the worlds meet, it is not just that their clothes are alien but also their manners, attitudes and hubris.
It is inconceivable to them, that they should not be allowed to do exactly as they wish in every respect. Fox hunting is merely a visible tip of their grandiosity.
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?? The majority of hunts now follow a prelaid scent, no fox killing at all. Some do still legally. Some may do it illegally, in which case the POLICE should be the ones checking on them not a balaclava-ed hunt saboteur turned “monitor”. There are cases of vile behaviour on both sides. The way the law is written makes it very hard to prosecute someone anyway, that might be need to be adjusted. The main issue is that there is a running battle between the hunts and the sabs, with both sides behaving badly. Cases of sabs releasing foxes in front of the hounds, hunts being intimidating, sabs in balaclavas injuring hounds….ad nauseum. So the sabs are determined to prove that the hunts are hunting outside the law, and the hunts are trying to hunt within a badly set out and understood law.
So, repeal of the hunting ban is not on the cards, and the majority of hunts now hunt within the law, what exactly are you asking to happen? Ban drag hunting (the pre laid scent)? What is so wrong with chasing nothing and having a damn good day out on your horse? Remember the average horse owner Earns £14,000 I think on last survey. And far more of Your average horse riders are going hunting now it’s Not cruel…..I really don’t understand why this argument Is anything other than “repeal the hunting ban, no, oh ok then.
While I sympathise with the idea that the people with Much influence are the dreadful people we all hate, I can’t see how their influence is affecting anything
Surely if it were, they’d all be hunting foxes again…
Remember that foxes are still being hunted, perhaps Even more than before, but only with a couple of Dogs, and this is still legal, and still pretty cruel. Is this what you want to stop?
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Very well put Sue.
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By influence affecting I meant in this case not in anything else, we all know their influence is everywhere. I think the public have won this one as Camoron cannot repeal the bill!
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Exactly right.
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Yes – I would make the hunting ban stricter.
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I am affected by drag hunting Niki and in theory, I’d agree with what you say about having an innocent good day out on your horse. However, in practice, the way my community is disregarded by the hunt is appalling .. similar but far worse than teenage parties. There are too many pets torn apart by mistake for you to disagree.
Btw I’m not aware of any hunt saboteurs in this district.
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The Countryside Alliance was a cheap con put on country folk with the promise that it would fight for fairer livestock and crop market prices. The Alliance didn’t. And why should it? The ‘furry murderers’ perpetrating the con are the very supermarket owners and posh folk determined to squeeze prices for more profit.
Luckily, the country folks have seen through their cruel trick.
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I came across a website http://www.pova.co.uk (think I’ve got the web address right) which gave an extremely factual, analytical picture of the cruelty involved in hunting.
I was aware of the Bristol University study into deer hunting (which used blood and tissue analyses of hunted deer to show exactly how much suffering the prey goes through. The pova.co.uk site gives some factual information on the suffering of hunted foxes.
What was entirely new to me was the information the site gives about the hunts’ high kill rate of young, basically healthy and temperamentally sound hounds from birth onwards.
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Aargh – tried clicking on link and couldn’t get through to right site. The site was mentioned in the Comments bit of the Guardian’s Boxing Day item on hunting. Hope you can find it (if you’re prepared to search).
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