Hunters gather for last legal outings

Published on Thursday 17 February 2005 12:03

THE last legal fox hunts in England were going ahead today as countryside campaigners vowed to continue their 300-year-old tradition after the ban takes effect at midnight tonight.

The Duke of Beaufort’s Hunt, which dates back to the 17th Century, and The Bilsdale Hunt, in Ravensthorpe Manor, near Thirsk in North Yorkshire, will be among Britain’s last legal hunting meetings.

Some 200 hunt members on horseback, their hounds and another 200 foot followers were meeting in Wiltshire, for the Duke of Beaufort’s Hunt.

Mike Hibbard, chairman of the hunt supporters’ club and a hunt member, said: "It’s a sad day for the countryside as a whole. The ban will not benefit the fox population at all. They’ll gradually disappear."

Meanwhile, up to half a million supporters of hunting with dogs were expected to defy the ban after the Court of Appeal yesterday rejected a challenge that it was invalid.

Three appeal judges refused the Countryside Alliance’s application for a "stay", which would have blocked any potential criminal proceedings while the pro-hunt group petitions the law lords for a hearing.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General ruled out a "blanket policy" of not enforcing the hunting ban until law lords have considered its legality.

The Alliance said hunts and their supporters would be out this weekend, trying to keep within the law by drag hunting or flushing out foxes and shooting them.

But Simon Hart, chief executive of the Alliance, said: "I have no doubt things will go wrong. People are going to be trying to persuade dogs to comply with an Act of Parliament and that is not going to work."

He said it would be "nigh on impossible" for the police to distinguish between lawful and unlawful hunts.

"They are going to look and sound very similar to the way they look and sound now."

The Alliance, which is mounting a series of legal challenges to the Act, said the meets will be widely advertised and held at locations well placed to allow "everyone who supports freedom and tolerance" to support their local hunt.