Politicians
Despite the fact that a hunting ban was passed in the House of Commons in 2005 - which stopped the majority of fox hunting - the vote which happened among politicians was not as straight forward as you may have thought... More than one in three conservative politicians believe that fox hunting should be made legal again because it is an English tradition and a huge part of many peoples lives - especially those who live in rural areas. Perhaps the most prominent figure in politics taking part in the fight to make fox hunting legal again is Baroness Mallalieu (who is also the president of the countryside alliance). Baroness Mallalieu has expressed her strong views towards both hunting and fox hunting on many occasions. Here are some of her quotes. "...well over £100 million worth of buisness would be lost to the rural
economy", "15,200 jobs depend solely on hunting, and many more rely in part on it". David Cameron is also an open supporter of fox hunting. Here is the overview of a radio interview with him - http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/2010/04/david-cameron-on-fox-hunting and here is a piece on him supporting fox hunting in general - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1262884/David-Cameron-makes-passionate-defence-fox-hunting.html
economy", "15,200 jobs depend solely on hunting, and many more rely in part on it". David Cameron is also an open supporter of fox hunting. Here is the overview of a radio interview with him - http://www.tom-watson.co.uk/2010/04/david-cameron-on-fox-hunting and here is a piece on him supporting fox hunting in general - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1262884/David-Cameron-makes-passionate-defence-fox-hunting.html
The Countryside alliance
A countryside alliance protest in London after the Hunting Act was passed.
The Countryside Alliance is an organisation which gets involved with many countryside related laws, disputes and protests. They have campaigned since the Hunting Act was passed into 2005 to try and get the law revoked and they have made sure that it is now widely acknowledged to be bad law. Using many different techniques, including protests and TV broadcasts, they have managed to convince many political commentators, Police Chief Constables, senior civil servants and the majority of the public that fox hunting should be allowed once again. The Countryside Alliance believes that the Hunting Act is hard to interpret and enforce, illiberal, bad for animal welfare and a waste of police resources to enforce. They aim to stop fox hunters being prosecuted and do this in a variety of ways including offering help and advice to people before they go out hunting.
The Countryside Alliance website can be found here: http://www.countryside-alliance.org/ca/index.php
The Countryside Alliance website can be found here: http://www.countryside-alliance.org/ca/index.php
farmers
Most farmers in the UK are completely against the Hunting Act and have been campaigning for years to get it removed. Many websites have been set up by groups of farmers such as this one - http://www.supportfoxhunting.co.uk/news.shtml#indepth- to try and change peoples opinions about fox hunting. Farmers are against the fox hunting ban for many reasons. First of all, if fox populations aren't kept under control by hunting, then there are more foxes. This means that farmers livestock are more at risk, both directly - e.g. chickens being killed - and indirectly - diseases. Farmers also have to spend more money protecting their animals and their land which affects them financially making the Hunting Ban a risk to their livelihoods. Many farmers also say that the country's economy takes a hit as well due to the smaller amount of livestock and crops being produced due to damage from foxes, or from too much time spent trying to control the fox population.
The mfha
The Masters of Foxhounds Association (MFHA) is the organisation in charge of foxhunting in the UK and is responsible for 176 packs of foxhounds that hunt in England and Wales, as well as 10 in Scotland. All Masters of Foxhounds packs are members of the MFHA and have to agree to abide by the Association's rules, codes of conduct and instructions or the pack may have its permissions revoked or any rule breaking individual may me disqualified. The MFHA does regular visits to foxhound kennels and hunts to make sure that hunters abide to rules and that strict standards are maintained. They also supply specialist legal advice on all matters concerning hunting as well as meeting with the Police , the Forestry Commission, Ministry of Defence, National Trust and Woodland Trust in order to arrange hunts and to listen to the views that people may have so they can make fox hunting as acceptable in the public eye as possible.
The MFHA's website can be found here - http://www.mfha.org.uk/
The MFHA's website can be found here - http://www.mfha.org.uk/