On the 27th of December 2013 the headline in the rabidly pro hunting Telegraph carried an article featuring Sir Barney White Spunner, CEO of the Countryside Alliance, (CA) who criticised the RSPCA yet again, by saying “RSPCA has become sinister and nasty.” These people have obviously never got over the shock of the successful Heythrop prosecution, and the fact that if they are caught with their pants down again, the RSPCA will not hesitate to prosecute under the terms of the hunting Act. It has come as a great shock to some that they are actually not above the law, and there are those good guys at the RSPCA who refuse to turn a blind eye to the eviscerating of wild mammals as a form of entertainment. The vile pastime that is fox hunting IS thankfully against the law, and to any normal person this should be enough to make one stop and think, and perhaps find a less bloodthirsty hobby. Not so the Countryside Alliance, however. It would seem that the hunting fraternity are not going to give up until they have given their best shot at grinding their only viable opposition into the dirt. What they are after is the RSPCA being stripped of its powers to prosecute hunt crime. Sir Barney is urging members of the Countryside Alliance to stop donating to the RSPCA because he says they have become a sinister animal rights group rather than a charity promoting animal welfare. It is all nonsense, of course, and it would be laughable were it not for the fact that these lies and smears are churned out in the national pro hunting press with nauseating regularity. What is concerning is that hunting people are fighting their dirty war for the right to once again be able to legally subject a small mammal to a cruel and agonising death by biting and eventual evisceration. These hunting dinosaurs, who live and work among the rest of us normal people, want to be able to enjoy the spectacle of watching an animal torn apart while they listen to its agonising screams of terror, and in spite of their bloodthirsty predilections, they have the bare faced cheek to call the RSPCA a SINISTER organisation. Talk about the pot calling the kettle. Scary to think they actually believe they are hard done by and they genuinely can’t see what they are doing wrong. The Countryside Alliance is single minded and totally ruthless. Born out of an amalgamation of the British Field Sports Association and two other groups, the Countryside Business Group and the Countryside Movement, it is supposed to be a force for good in the countryside, looking after and lobbying for a better deal for all country dwellers. The reality is far from that, and one could be forgiven for thinking that their leaders are only interested in bringing back fox hunting while the rest of the countryside can go hang. Hundreds of rural shops, pubs and post offices are closing every year. There is a dearth of affordable homes for people in the countryside and many tenant farmers have little provision for retirement including somewhere to live when the big land owners repossess their tied houses. A new report from Ofcom suggests Internet speeds in rural areas will continue to lag far behind those in towns and cities for years to come, and they say it will get worse before it gets better. Mobile phone reception is poor or non-existent, but perhaps the worst neglect of all is the poverty of the rural elderly who are often unable to get out of their homes because of poor transport services and who also suffer deprivation because they are living off the gas grid. Real poverty and real suffering in our countryside, yet when do we ever see the hunters putting any great effort into protecting the vulnerable in rural areas? It would seem that the pro hunt lobby hijack every rural cause and then try to pretend that those protesting a genuine issue want to repeal the hunting Act. They are even at it in Parliament, with pro hunting MPs working behind the scenes to persuade their more empathic colleagues that hunting is necessary and benign. Simon Hart, MP, resigned his post of CEO to the Countryside Alliance with the express purpose of becoming the MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire; his prime agenda is to fight for repeal of the Hunting Act. During the run up to the last election we had the scandal of ‘Vote Okay’. Vote OK which was partly set up and run by David Cameron’s father in law, saw 15,000 fox hunters and their supporters, descend on constituencies across the UK delivering Conservative Party leaflets, and even canvassing, in some cases. In return for this help the prospective politicians promised to vote for repeal of the hunting Act when the time was right. They wore Tory Rosettes but they had nothing to identify them as being from Vote OK. And they did not explain or declare their hunting interest or declare who they really were. Misleading the public in this way is wrong, and has no place as a legitimate form of political campaigning. All in all it is a dirty fight on the part of the pros., and 2014 will be a difficult year for UK wildlife. Those of us who care about animals, must stand up and be heard. Please consider joining the RSPCA and the League Against Cruel Sports, and please write to your MP and tell him you won’t vote for a party which promotes hunting or any other form of cruelty to animals. All is not lost if we stay strong however, because a recent Ipsos Mori poll commissioned in 2012 by the League showed that support for the hunting Act had actually increased. 80% of the UK including those in rural areas do not want to see the return of fox hunting.
64 Comments
Betty Workman
12/29/2013 01:25:27 am
I have just read an article by a former Huntsman and it made very unpleasant reading. The CA are cruel arrogant group of self serving individuals.
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Mrs Miggins
12/29/2013 08:17:09 am
Yes, Betty, was it Clifford Pellows account of hunting by any chance? Did you know the hunting set tried to say he only wrote that account because he was prevented from becoming hunt master due to his lowly upbringing. And they call us classist.
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David Monaghan
12/29/2013 02:48:11 am
The CA are a despicable group of retards. Hunting is dead but they just wont lie down and accept that animal cruelty in the form of hunting is a thing of the past
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Mrs Miggins
12/29/2013 08:18:59 am
This coming year will be make or break for the hunting Act. We must protest all we can against the reinstating of hunting. The hunting Act needs to be tightened up not repealed
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roxy morris
12/31/2013 06:46:33 pm
The CA says it is the voice of the countryside, what a monumental lie. I am well into my 70.s spent most of my life in the country enjoying its fauna and flora where possible. Now it is over run with Yobbos on quad bikes, and so called sportsmen and woman riding rough shod through the country with their mobile phones jammed in their ears taking instructions from yet more yobbos notifying them of the whereabouts of the wild life that they want to kill . How jolly sporting of them ! CA you are NOT my voice what you do is NOT in my name.
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Gina
1/2/2014 08:15:46 pm
Couldn't agree more, Roxy. I live in the country and enjoy it for its peace, scenery and wildlife. The Countryside Alliance has, does and will not speak for me. In fact, it stands for everything I am against: a group of old boys with a flagrant disregard for the law and animal welfare, trying to lie, bully and cheat their way into power to enable them to continue to be cruel to animals.
eileen
12/29/2013 04:19:22 am
David and Betty are spot on. Excellent report Mrs Miggins.
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Mrs Miggins
12/29/2013 08:27:38 am
Thank you Eileen. The Countryside Alliance are ramping up the repeal engine and we mustn't let them turn the country against the animal charities who are opposed to their cruel,sport
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Maria Hardy
12/30/2013 09:10:23 am
Thank you for your brilliant and detailed report. These so-called 'Elite' - I would right the opposite title - think they are above the law and can do whatever they want. It is high time they get knocked off their franking ideas and hit the dust. That is where they should be - in the muck. They so big headed and with that ignorant. I'll never know how they made it through Eton, Harrow, Oxford and Cambridge.
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S McNamara
12/31/2013 09:30:04 pm
Hunting is a tradition! do any of you anti's actually have a clue about animals? I am newly qualified vet, My step dad is a policeman and my aunt is a RSPCA inspector! I have hunted before I could walk and in my life time only seen 2 actual killings. I am a farmers daughter and the amount of times our chickens or lambs have been slaughtered and left is unbelievable! will u come and rescue my chickens and lambs when they are being ripped to shreds? There has to be a control of any wild animal which is a pest to domestic animals or livestock otherwise you may as well burn every farm in this country as they spread disease e.g badgers and TB of which I have first hand experience!!!!! Many of the hunts I hunt with trail hunt which is PERFECTLY legal! unfortunately as they are hounds, if they get on a sent of a actual fox it can be hard to call them off. My best friends is a huntsman and has been for years and rightly said if the fox is fit and healthy it will out run hounds in its own land which I have seen more times than I can remember. Being a Vet I do not like to see any animal in pain however if fox's were to be shot there is the chance of missing and the animal being left to die slowly and in sever pain! I am very aware it can seem brutal but so can an urban fox entering a home and attacking a small child or coming onto my land and playing with my chickens. I think the Anti's need to spend a day trying to run a farm or maybe sit in a room with a bunch of farmers who have been affected either by TB or fox's killing livestock then we will see where that gets you. As I say I know about animal welfare and I have members of my family in high positions in the met and RSPCA and not all share the same opinion that hunting is the worst possible thing a human can do as we all know IT IS NOT!! spend you energy protecting your children from evil murderers or pedophiles which are really the evil people in this world and when a fox enters your home or takes your livestock don't come crying for there to be a cull or some sort of control!!
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peter baldwin
12/31/2013 09:50:49 pm
You my friend,should not be a vet! If I had a sick animal,there's no way you would get anywhere near it!
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Sarah McNamara
12/31/2013 11:56:10 pm
Every one is allowed an opinion as I have not been offensive I have actually said I understand the welfare side but you "anti's" are unwilling to admit there is sometimes a need for pest control and a cull there is no give and take with you lot. Like I said will you come and protect my lambs and chickens as I am also a farmers daughter when the Fox has attacked them and just left them? I speak from experience and knowledge what do you speak from?
rapier
1/1/2014 03:13:26 pm
Quite agree. Like most of these people: Hypocrites
Nik
12/31/2013 09:52:39 pm
It's a sad thing they let people like you work as vets - a bit like letting the 'spare the rod - spoil the child' sadists become teachers. You obviously have a fundemental problem empathising with other species and should be kept well away from them.
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Sarah McNamara
12/31/2013 11:58:40 pm
Tell that to Liverpool vet school? we regularly had this debate with PROFESSORS OF VETERINARY SCIENCE and they had a similar view you would be surprised. You people think you know everything but you actually have no experience of anything you speak about. Will you come save my lambs and chickens (which you will happily buy and eat from me in the supermarkets) when the Fox kills them and leaves them?
Susanita
12/31/2013 10:06:24 pm
Darling your education has been wasted; which institution awarded a degree level qualification to someone who has no idea how to use an apostrophe ????
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S McNamara
12/31/2013 11:54:28 pm
Excuse me my comment is both based on experience and Facts! what is yours based on " I read it in a mag or watched it on tv" I studied at the best vet school in England! got a problem take it up with them. and how would you know I don't treat your animal? Ask your vet what there views are lets see shall we.....
Chris B
1/1/2014 12:49:43 am
S McNamara, if you are able to qualify as a vet with such a high level of ignorance and lack of moral substance, I'd be ashamed to be a vet. Fox hunting where dogs are allowed to rip the victim apart, is a barbaric activity which only those with the intelligence of a neanderthal could consider to be appropriate behaviour in this day and age. Hunting is no use as pest control, and there is absolutely no valid reason to ever consider making it legal again.
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McNamara
1/1/2014 03:37:36 am
Come and protect my lambs and Chickens then when we as a family have done everything to stop them killing them and leaving them all round our yard. Or are you selective in which animals you deem worthy enough not to be slaughtered for "no reason"?
Ailsa McKillop
1/1/2014 01:51:13 am
Sarah, just because something is a tradition doesn't mean that it is right or moral. We used to have bear-baiting in this country hundreds of years ago---should we reinstate that as a pastime?
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tony webber
1/1/2014 02:32:24 am
Perhaps you would be kind enough to let us know where you practice. If it was in the area I live in (Essex) then I would not touch your practice with a barge pole.
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tony webber
1/1/2014 02:47:27 am
One of the problems I have as a human being is my love and respect for other life form on this "shared" planet especially my dogs who I love dearly because they give me so much love in return
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m.hollinrake
1/1/2014 03:29:32 am
Surely to be classed a "sport" all the participants have to agree to be involved in the activity. Clearly in bear baiting, trophy hunting , hunting with dogs, and other such "sports" involving animals often being murdered, then not ALL participants have agreed to it.
m.hollinrake
1/1/2014 03:30:16 am
Surely to be classed a "sport" all the participants have to agree to be involved in the activity. Clearly in bear baiting, trophy hunting , hunting with dogs, and other such "sports" involving animals often being murdered, then not ALL participants have agreed to it.
eileen
1/1/2014 03:56:55 am
How on earth can you compare animal killings by a fox to that by barbaric hunts people who should know better. Even calling themselves civilised. Many things were tradition at one time, slavery, child chimney sweeps, bear baiting and more. Times change and people become civilized or at least most do!!
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Mustelid
1/1/2014 04:52:07 am
This debate seems to have put you, Ms McNamara on your back foot somewhat! Your argument for hunting seem weak given that your experience finds it ineffective, from my research it would bear this out, notwithstanding that currently this is illegal never mind tradition. Surely we should all be striving for new more effective ways of managing the countryside and farming this is about creating balance and living in harmony
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Graham
1/1/2014 04:54:47 am
Please read this article Sarah.
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Jayne Marney
1/1/2014 05:52:50 am
What a load of bulls--t. It is about time you pros STOP trying to justify your BLOODLUST with all this crap about your chickens etc. Put one of my Jacks or even a domestic cat in a pen full of chucks and see how many survive! It is nature! What is your bloody excuse? You are an excuse for a vet lady. My vet totally disagrees with blood sports. I use the word sport in the widest sense as it clearly does not fit the definition of that word. (Two or more CONSENTING participants of equal ability and chance!!!!) Don't think that applies here does it?
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Mrs Miggins
1/1/2014 07:08:50 am
Hunting may be traditional but some traditions don't sit well with 21st century morality. I am surprised that having an aunt who is an RSPCA inspector you are not au fait with the RSPCAs stance on foxhunting, which is that it is cruel, unnecessary and it has no place in modern Britain. I am also quite surprised that as a vet you appear to have little knowledge of the life and times of one of our most beautiful British mammals.
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Les
1/24/2014 10:59:57 pm
I agree about fox hunting beening band but must dis agree about dogs the only dogs that atact are them selfs illyreTed and taught by man to fight and bit others dogs normality will bark and snarl. At each other with no real damage done
Gill Mitchell
1/1/2014 08:25:50 pm
Have you ever heard of the proverb "two wrongs don't make a right"? Killing foxes is wrong and inviting people to your farm to see the damage foxes have done in order to try to justify killing foxes is wrong too. Protect your animals more and foxes can't get to them. I eat quorn by the way, not meat, so that's another reason I'd decline to visit your farm. I'm not sure how you can justify being a vet, where you do your best to save animals and would recommend euthanasia rather than keeping an animal who is in pain with your hunt activities where you stand by and watch a defenceless animal being torn to pieces? You've only seen that happen once or twice - that's once or twice too many times! You have a relative in the Met and that is going to help how? A relative in the RSPCA? Well, they should resign at once. Anything else I can help you with? I notice that your spelling and punctuation is a little shaky.
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Redcap1
1/2/2014 01:17:50 am
S McNamara, your claim to be a vet is clumsy at best. Firstly, you would know that foxes do not "play" with chickens, they rarely enter people's homes and none of the very few allegations of fox attacks on children have been substantiated. Secondly, your spelling and grammar are atrocious and not what I would expect from a ten year old child, much less someone claiming to be a professional person. Your rather desperate post merely contains the usual senseless hysteria we have come to expect from the pro-hunt, pro-cull lobby over the last few years in an attempt to justify their bloodlust. Instead of blaming a wild animal merely for trying to survive (they can't pop down to Sainsburys you know), try fox-proofing your chicken run as many other people do. In any case, you should be ashamed of your poor animal husbandry - instead you advertise it as an excuse for your appalling lack of respect and empathy towards wild animals. If by some miracle you are a vet, please do all the animals in your care a big favour and resign immediately,
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Penny B
1/3/2014 12:13:23 am
Ms Mc Namara
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andrew wiffen
1/25/2014 05:59:16 am
Try explaining blood-soaked bodies to young children eh? Huntsmen seem quite keen to soak young children in the blood of foxes as a rite of passage from what I've heard.
Raymond Ings
1/3/2014 03:14:21 am
Re the comments of S McNamara this person may or not be a vet as claimed but they certainly do not write like any vet I have ever known. The english is poor in places and immature. The sentences are more typical of a rant from a member of the pro fox hunting hunt fraternity. If this person is a vet then god help animal welfare. I have some experience of the issues being a graduate and chartered biologist and a post graduate in animal welfare science (Edinburgh). I have also served as an animal welfare advisor to DEFRA through my membership of the government's Zoos Forum by ministerial appointment (2001-2009). I have been involved in practical countryside issues involving badgers and foxes, working with farmers, police wildlife officers and local authorities for over 30 years and have been the chairman of my local badger group for around 25 years. If this person really is vet I have never read such nonsense from anybody of that profession and I have had dealings with many over the years both professionally, working with the government, and socially. I wouldn't even know where to start to counter the levels of ignorance expressed here but I suggest this person might learn a lot about foxes and badgers from the following publications. The Natural History of Badgers ,Ernest Neal, Guild Publishing, Country Foxes Dr Hugh Kolb, Whittet books, Urban Foxes Professor Stephen Harris Whittet books. What on earth was all that stuff about paedophiles (which they can't even spell correctly!)?
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David Powell
12/31/2013 09:46:16 pm
I can't believe that a vet - even a newly qualified one - would believe 'fox's' to be the plural of 'fox'. The failings of logic & fact revealed in this illiterate rant are even more serious. Not a contribution to be taken seriously.
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Malcolm Short
12/31/2013 11:10:35 pm
Quite right, David. I don't believe a word of it. People must have a grasp of English beyond primary school level to become a qualified vet.
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McNamara
1/1/2014 03:39:22 am
So rather than actually comment on the debate you pick fault with spelling! HAHAHAHA!! I don't even need to justify to some one as narrow minded and not living in the real world as yourself.
Carol hill
12/31/2013 10:40:11 pm
I would never use someone like you as my pets vet god help any animal that is left in you care if you ever have a practise in West Sussex you will never have any of my friends or family coming to you as we are animal lovers and fox hunting is cruel and disgusting men on horse back chasing an animal with a pack of blood thirsty hounds you should never have become a vet
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Gemma
12/31/2013 11:12:01 pm
I have been seriously thinking about stealing a new car for myself. Now I know there is a Law against this, but I don't agree with that Law. Should I go ahead and steal this car because I want to? I would not expect the police to prosecute, but perhaps BMW corporation might prosecute me instead. Perhaps I will just get away with it because people who go hunting seem to get away with breaking the Law. It is a bit of a dilemma for me.
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Anna
12/31/2013 11:30:04 pm
S McNamara you are no guardian of animals.
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Penny B
1/3/2014 12:26:15 am
A fox does not just come and take one chicken or whatever for its dinner it slaughters every bloody thing in sight, I hatched chickens & ducks from eggs I loved and cared for them from day one until the dam fox got in to the pen (wire was sunk 18inches into the ground and was approx 8ft tall) yet still it got in and slaughtered or damaged beyond healing everyone of them! tell me a fox only kills to eat absolute rubbsh they are like man they kill for sport!!
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Raymond Ings
1/3/2014 03:28:07 am
What you Penny B have described is surplus killing 'ie killing above and beyond an immediate need for food. It does happen in the wild but is not that common as prey items are rarely confined in the way that humans confine livestock. It makes perfect survival (Darwinian)sense for predators to engage in it as in most cases given the chance they will cache some of the kill that they cannot eat and in time come back for it in due course. This behaviour has been documented in foxes. For a good scientific explanation of the phenomena I suggest page 70-71 of Urban Foxes by Professor Stephen Harris (Whittet books). To make a comparison of the underlying motivation of why humans and wild animals kill is anthropomorphic nonsense.
Wilfred
12/31/2013 11:47:33 pm
@S McNamara...the animals you call "pest" are merely trying to survive in their natural habitat. One that we, as humans, are devastating.
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McNamara
1/1/2014 03:29:06 am
My point proven! you "townies" as we country folk call you know nothing about how hard it is to Farm!!! My "hen house" which is actually a shed housing 1348 hens is as fox proof as I can make it yet they still get in and slaughter roughly around 187 one night alone and left them for dead! not eating them, is this them surviving killing more than they need? I have said till I am blue in the face I see where you bunny hugging anti's come from in terms of welfare and life is cruel but you all get so angry about it an abusive none of you try and see it from any other point of view yet I am saying I can under stand your point and if you are allowed an opinion so am !
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Coco
1/1/2014 05:33:39 am
McNamara - your comments are laughable.
Ailsa McKillop
1/1/2014 08:28:31 am
Sarah—give it a rest, hmm?
Raymond Ings
1/3/2014 03:51:33 am
Ms Mc Namara you really don't know much about behavioural ecology of wild animals for somebody who is apparently a vet. With every post of yours I read the more difficult I find it to believe that you are a vet. However that be as it may I will repeat the points I made to an earlier poster who was ranting on about foxes killing just for fun. Surplus killing as you have described here is by no means limited to foxes. It is not that common in the wild as most prey items are not confined in the way most livestock is kept and can get a way from a predator once it is focused on a hunt target. Predators given the chance will often bury the surplus kills for a rainy day and this has been documented in the red fox. Individuals who do this enhance their survival chances and hence promote the gene selection for this behaviour (in a Darwinian sense). Professor Stephen Harris gives an excellent more detailed explanation of the biology involved predatory surplus killing in 'Urban Foxes' published by Whittet books. Professor David MacDonald also considers if the movement of prey also triggers the natural hunting instinct in foxes, Running with the Fox page 171 Guild Publishing. In any case what is all this rubbish about 'townies as we country folk call you know nothing etc etc.' I was raised in the countryside and work with all sorts of land owners and farmers.' Don't presume to talk for me!
m. hollinrake
1/1/2014 01:39:43 am
I am not convinced Sarah McNamara , is indeed a Vet. Before taking her word for anything I would like some proof.
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McNamara
1/1/2014 03:34:04 am
I will continue fox hunting no one will stop me :) say all you will. there was over 128 people out with my hunt on boxing day alone. Keep calm and Kick on!
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m.hollinrake
1/1/2014 03:55:14 am
And the hunting with dogs law will NOT be thrown out and instead will probably be strengthened and maybe even widened, after the next General Election. And the sabs will continue to monitor the hunts and RSPCA and other animal welfare groups will continue to bring prosecutions against the scum who break the hunting laws.
McNamara
1/1/2014 03:56:38 am
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2458431/Fox-hunting-ban-relaxed.html
Recap1
1/2/2014 01:25:06 am
So you admit to breaking the law? Not very clever are you? That was a rhetorical question by the way. Troll on.
Raymond Ings
1/3/2014 04:05:32 am
Interesting, a post from somebody who not only claims to be a vet but goes on public record to admit that they participate in acts of criminal animal cruelty. I wonder what the RCVS and the BVA would have to say about that but there again if they really are a vet I can't imagine that they are stupid enough to use their real name. Nobody is saying don't hunt just do it legally without involving cruelty. You may not like the fox hunting ban but contrary to your claim you are not above the law. What about badger diggers and baited should be able to just carry on because they want to as well. Answer that one. If you don't like it use the democratic processes available to all of us to campaign for a change. This is what those opposed to fox hunting did.
pictureman
1/1/2014 02:05:10 am
S.McNamara...what a load of testicular rubbish contained in your almost hysterical ramblings.
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M.Hollinrake
1/1/2014 04:11:13 am
The link you provided merely is a PROPOSAL that even IF brought in by the Minister responsible, can and will be overturned by MPs.
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Sue Baker
1/1/2014 09:06:30 am
The only person being abusive in their comments is Mc Namara it seems to me. I very much doubt you are a vet or if you are you are not in a practice. I would never use a vet with so little consideration for animals, wildlife or those reared to be slaughtered for food.
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Don Smith
1/1/2014 09:12:20 am
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Gill Mitchell
1/1/2014 08:55:41 pm
Let's not get too bogged down in criticising Ms McNamara's spelling and punctuation as we are doing her a favour by not concentrating on the arguments she puts forward. I agree with everyone who has spotted that Ms M hasn't tried to respond to any of our questions or arguments. Come on Ms M, please stop spouting out the same old rhetoric and address our concerns. One thing that should help everyone avoid her veterinary practice is the fact that Ms M says she's been talking until she's "blue in the face" - there you have it! Do not take your pet to see any vet whose face is between powder blue and navy 😃 Seriously though, people like Ms M, who have qualified to work for the welfare of animals, ALL animals (?) and yet can indulge in an activity - I refuse to call it a sport - where the end result is to kill an animal
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Gill Mitchell
1/1/2014 08:58:16 pm
Other comment wouldn't let me finish what I wanted to say:
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David Monaghan
1/2/2014 07:00:56 am
In my opinion people who hunt animals for fun are psychopathic. They are not immoral they are amoral. They have no concept of morality and that is why we get people like S McNamara who us actually enraged at her sport being misunderstood and criticised. She has reduced animals to trash status and as such she doesn't feel the need to give them any worth at all. What is particularly distressing for normal people is that these poor foxes actually suffer greatly before they die.
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Chris
1/2/2014 06:51:17 pm
Having read Ms McNara's initial comment I am convinced this person is neither a vet nor has a close relative that is an RSPCA Inspector. In fact I believe she is very young, extremely immature, and to put it bluntly, a pathetic little liar. Her knowledge of the natural history and behaviour of the fox is nil. Furthermore, I have recently read an article that states vets say that hunted foxes die in agony so I do wonder what this so-called 'vet' has to say about that?
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Mrs Miggins
1/3/2014 03:21:13 am
Penny it is indeed very distressing for young children to,see have seen your dead birds, but I must tell you foxes do not kill for sport. Keeping hens in large numbers is not natural and hens and ducks in their natural state would find perching sites safe from predators. A fox in a hen house will kill what he can catch, because he hasn't seen so much available food with in such easy reach. If the hens he could not take away with him were left, he would most certainly come back for them and bury them or up hide them to eat later.
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Marilyn
1/24/2014 10:08:10 pm
This farmer encourages his foxes in order to control rabbits:
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