Something missing on Boxing Day hunts

THE wail of a hunting horn was the signal for red-jacketed riders to urge their mounts forward in a scene that was stolen from a Victorian Christmas card.

Stirrup cups had been quaffed, the hounds whipped-in behind the Master’s horse and country folk cheered as the Lanark and Renfrew Hunt set off, as it has done every Boxing Day since 1771.

But, yesterday, Renfrewshire’s foxes were safe - a situation that later mystified one reynard when it emerged momentarily to find no dogs willing to chase it. Alistair Campbell, the Hunt’s joint-master, said: "It was somewhat confused."

For the first time in 231 years, the people Oscar Wilde described as unspeakable were not in pursuit of the uneatable.

At the end of the drive of Crosslie House, near Houston, the riders swung left as the hounds headed right for the kennels.

Yesterday was about pageantry, politics and commerce, a bloodless "hunt ride" to satisfy tradition, and to raise money to maintain the second oldest hunt in Scotland. It was replicated across Scotland as hunts marked one of the most important days in their calendar.

While Lanark and Renfrew was not hunting to kill, the hounds of Buccleuch Hunt in the Borders were "shunting" - flushing foxes to guns, a form of hunting which circumvents the law prohibiting killing with dogs.

Three other hunts - Ayrshire’s Eglinton, the Fife, and Britain’s youngest hunt, the five-year-old Kincardine - held similar events.

But Berwickshire Hunt let the fox off the hook in favour of human quarry. David Law, the hunt captain, raced across fields pursued by companions on horseback.

Jedforest and Lauderdale Hunts held token events, and the Dumfriesshire Hunt met for a "ride-out" near Lockerbie.

Around the country, the sight of horses charging as if into battle was more than a metaphor, but symbolic of a war of attrition that will be fought next year all the way to the European Court of Human Rights.

Since the Scottish Executive outlawed fox-hunting in February hunts continue to kill foxes, but they claim the "politically correct intrusion of shotguns" has led to 50 per cent more foxes being killed.

In the new Year, the hunts begin the battle against "Lord Watson’s Law" in the Court of Session and, if that fails, the House of Lords and then on to Strasbourg.

In 1999, the Labour MSP, Mike Watson, found support for a private member’s bill to ban hunting with dogs. The pro-hunt lobby claimed it would cost 8,000 jobs, but, in February, foxhunting was outlawed.

In Houston, a village associated to the hunt for a century, Mr Campbell added: "This is the best we can do today; keeping the infrastructure going.

"Watson’s law is unjust, prejudiced or at worst bigoted. During the week, we are controlling foxes by ‘shunting’ - that is using hounds to flush foxes to the gun. We plan to have hunt-rides every weekend for purely commercial reasons. It’s important we keep going."

The first legal challenge by the hunts and the Countryside Alliance will be early in the new year at the Court of Session.

Douglas Ross, Scottish correspondent of the Countryman’s Weekly, believes it will be a long fight. "It will run and run, probably all the way to Strasbourg. Hunts are fighting for survival. They believe themselves a minority persecuted by ill-advised political action that affects livelihoods."

One such affected is Debbie Murphy, 44, the Lanark and Renfrew’s kennel groom.

She said: " I have no chance of doing anything else. Without hunting, I lose my job, my house, and my dogs will be shot."

In England yesterday, an estimated 250,000 people gathered for what could be the last traditional Boxing Day hunt.

A new Government Bill launched earlier this month proposes to ban hare coursing and stag hunting, but it may allow fox hunting if hunts can satisfy a "cruelty test." The bill passed through the Commons on a vote of 368 to 155 but faces a stormy passage in the Lords. It also has been criticised by both sides as a "fudge".

In Buckinghamshire yesterday, the League Against Cruel Sports held its biggest protest in Winslow, against the Whaddon Chase Fox Hounds hunt.

Actress Annette Crosbie, star of One Foot In The Grave - the new president of the League - said: "Protesting is unfortunate, but reason and logic doesn’t get you anywhere."

More than 2,000 people turned out to support the Beaufort Hunt in Gloucestershire, which often attracts Royal Family members.