Written by
on
20 October, 2010 : 17:00
Latest reports of wildlife crime and animal cruelty cases in Northern Ireland.
Written by
on
19 October, 2010 : 16:40
The recent stag hunting ban in Ireland appears to have tipped some hunters over the edge. Rather than making the simple conversion to drag or trail hunting, the Ward Union Hunt has instead proposed a ...
Written by
on
19 October, 2010 : 10:50
Unless you’ve spent the last few months trapped down a mine, you’ve probably heard that Tony Blair has published his first (and hopefully last) set of memoirs. The nauseatingly-titled A Journey contai...
Written by
on
18 October, 2010 : 16:00
This week’s edition of the Shooting Times & Country Magazine again shows evidence of one-sided journalism. If they had actually asked us for what really happened at the conference, they would have...
Written by
on
18 October, 2010 : 11:15
A great story to start the week brings news that, according to the Environment Agency, the otter has made a remarkable comeback from the brink of extinction. It would be difficult to imagine anyone gr...
Written by
on
15 October, 2010 : 10:00
This week's blog from Douglas Batchelor, Chief Executive
I have just been reading Lord Ashcroft’s analysis of the last election. As you might expect his general approach is very businesslike insofa...
Written by
on
14 October, 2010 : 00:10
Regular followers of our blog will recall how, eight weeks ago, a flurry of activity on Facebook included the creation of the 'League Against the League Against Cruel Sports'. Interest in their group ...
Written by
on
12 October, 2010 : 15:35
Following pressure from the League and other animal welfare organisations, international airline Jet Airways has apologised for its glorification of bullfighting in its in-flight magazine JetWings, an...
Written by
on
11 October, 2010 : 10:00
We’ve received some great news from Tenby, West Wales, where local councillors have voted to ban the South Pembrokeshire Hunt from the town centre.
The hunt had written to the town council to ask ...
Written by
on
08 October, 2010 : 08:31
The League's Parliamentary & Political Officer, Joshua Kaile, reports from the Conservative Conference in Manchester.
...
Written by
on
08 October, 2010 : 07:33
This week's note from Douglas Batchelor, Chief Executive.
One of the big issues in the whole big society debate is, ‘what is the role of governments, both central and local, and what is more proper...
Written by
on
07 October, 2010 : 14:00
Now that we’re back home in Godalming and recovering from the exhausting few weeks of party conferences, we can report on which MPs visited us and signed a pledge to support the Hunting Act.
Remember...
Written by
on
06 October, 2010 : 12:20
Regulars to this blog may recall an earlier entry celebrating the conviction of Alastair Robinson, a terrierman with the Ullswater Foxhounds, thanks in large part to evidence obtained by League observ...
Written by
on
06 October, 2010 : 05:12
We were delighted to welcome Caroline Spelman to our stand yesterday afternoon.
The Defra Secretary of State has long and consistently said that she would vote for repeal of the Hunting Act. But ju...
Written by
on
05 October, 2010 : 18:30
Earlier today, Jim Barrington (ex of the League, now employed by the Countryside Alliance, Middle Way Group, Council of Hunting Associations and the Masters of Fox Hounds Association) indicated that h...
Written by
on
05 October, 2010 : 10:00
It’s that time of year again when the cottage industry-cum-pressure group calling itself Friends of the National Trust (FONT) produces a list of candidates it is recommending for election to the Natio...
Written by
on
05 October, 2010 : 08:00
There's an interesting debate in the House of Lords this afternoon. Lord Taylor of Holbeach has instigated a debate on 'the role of the charitable sector in strengthening civil society'.
We hope th...
Written by
on
04 October, 2010 : 23:00
We are now half way through the Conservative Conference in Birmingham, and it's been an interesting two days.
It should be said at the outset that the overwhelming response has been very positive. ...
Written by
on
01 October, 2010 : 11:00
The second of our weekly video blogs comes from the Labour Conference in Manchester. It features a rousing speech from Hilary Benn MP, the League's packed fringe event, and even a visit to our stand b...
Written by
on
01 October, 2010 : 07:59
This week's note from Douglas Batchelor, Chief Executive.
The first of October will be a bad day for the pheasant population. As the new shooting season starts, some 35 million young pheasants will...
Written by
Katy on
28 September, 2010 : 07:00
The fox hunting season has not even begun, yet we have our first incident of ‘hunt havoc’ that resulted in a fatality a few days ago. Just before 9am on Monday morning a pack of hounds strayed onto...
Written by
on
27 September, 2010 : 13:45
Claims by Sinn Fein member Martin Ferris that his party would be making attempts to overturn the decision to ban hare coursing in Northern Ireland have turned out to be unfounded. Mr Ferris had said t...
Written by
on
27 September, 2010 : 10:01
The RSPCA host a hugely popular fringe event at all three party conferences, called the 'Beer and Curry Night'. The format is simple - provide beer, curry, a pub quiz, and a senior party representativ...
Written by
on
24 September, 2010 : 10:00
This week's note from Douglas Batchelor, Chief Executive.
Our latest report on hunting, Hunting with Dogs: Past, Present but No Future has rather rattled the hunters. They are particularly annoyed ...
Written by
on
24 September, 2010 : 08:00
The first of our weekly Video Blogs comes from the Liverpool, where we spent the week at the Liberal Democrat conference.
...
Written by
on
22 September, 2010 : 11:00
It's quite staggering how little credit the shooting lobby give the general public for having a degree of intelligence and common sense when it comes to snares in Scotland. Do they honestly think that...
Written by
Christina on
21 September, 2010 : 11:25
The League is thrilled by the proactive actions of Stockport council who have unanimously passed a motion stating that they are against the cruel and barbaric bullfighting festival held in their twinn...
Written by
on
20 September, 2010 : 17:00
It is regrettable that Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones has announced that she intends to proceed with a cull of badgers in West Wales after the Welsh Assembly Government’s earlier plans were deemed ...
Written by
on
20 September, 2010 : 00:01
This is the foreword to the League's new report, Hunting with Dogs: Past, Present but No Future. A link to download the whole report can be found at the bottom of this page.
"I personally think t...
Written by
on
19 September, 2010 : 12:15
It's twenty-four hours since the Liberal Democrat Conference opened in Liverpool, and the League has got off to a great start.
For the first time in a number of years, the League has both a stand a...
Written by
on
17 September, 2010 : 10:00
This week's note from Douglas Batchelor, Chief Executive
As predicted the government have issued a consultation document about bovine TB and badger control. In essence what the consultation propose...
Written by
on
16 September, 2010 : 12:30
As we are approaching the political party conference season we are still awaiting the response of 37 MPs on their voting intention for a repeal of the Hunting Act 2004.
If you have recent informati...
Written by
on
15 September, 2010 : 08:00
I was intrigued to read in his controversial memoirs, that former prime minister Tony Blair, when discussing Prime Minister’s Questions, believes that “it’s a bloodsport and the prime minister is the ...
Written by
on
14 September, 2010 : 16:00
Police in Scotland are investigating after a golfer allegedly beat a fox to death with his golf club.
The incident happened at Peterculter Golf Club near Aberdeen after the fox stuck its head into...
Written by
Katy on
14 September, 2010 : 14:00
The article Top greyhound ‘given cocaine’ which appeared in last Saturday’s Sheffield Star serves as a grim reminder of some of the darker aspects still present within the greyhound racing industry....
Written by
on
13 September, 2010 : 14:10
After months of pressure from animal welfare groups, Cobble Hey Farm backed down from its plans to stage a Pig Racing event over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
Pig racing is a very distressing exp...
Written by
on
10 September, 2010 : 08:00
This week's note from Douglas Batchelor, Chief Executive.
One of the most disturbing turns of events in recent years has been the increased role of the terriermen in association with supposedly leg...
Written by
on
09 September, 2010 : 13:30
We were interested this morning to read the Countryside Alliance’s response to the Home Affairs Committee Inquiry into the control of firearms. The inquiry asked a range of questions regarding the use...
Written by
Christina on
09 September, 2010 : 11:30
An upcoming study to be published in the journal Conservation Biology is to reveal what the League has long suspected, that the trophy hunting of lions in Tanzania is the leading factor in their decli...
Written by
on
03 September, 2010 : 17:08
Several members of our campaigns team will be pouring a large glass of wine tonight to celebrate the completion of a major piece of very detailed work, completed in just over two weeks.
Later this ...
Written by
on
03 September, 2010 : 10:00
This week's note from Douglas Batchelor, Chief Executive.
The latest twists in the story about the passage of the Hunting Act into law are almost beyond belief.
If Tony Blair is to be believed, he...
Written by
on
02 September, 2010 : 12:30
Like many other people I have read with interest the excerpts on hunting from Tony’s book (first name terms for those of us here at the League of course) and I was left with the feeling that we should...
Written by
on
02 September, 2010 : 12:20
Each year in September, the town of Tordesillas (in Valladolid, Spain) is host to a horrific fiesta known as “El Toro de la Vega.”
The festival begins with the release of a bull into the countrysid...
Written by
Katy on
01 September, 2010 : 16:00
The grouse shooting season is now underway, but for many in rural England that familiar sound of cracking gunshots will permeate our skies in some areas today, marking the start of the partridge shoo...
Written by
on
30 August, 2010 : 08:30
If the rumours are to be believed it would appear a certain notorious estate manager in Scotland is up to his old tricks again offering canned and trophy hunting on the Dumfries-shire sporting estate ...
Written by
Christina on
27 August, 2010 : 15:00
...We need to know where hunts are hunting, where they are meeting and when they’re going out. If you have any of this information please call our Hunt Crimewatch team on 01483 524250 or email us at c...
Written by
Christina on
27 August, 2010 : 10:35
Have you signed the League’s pledge to never visit a bullfight?
Find out what else you can do...
The League congratulates the Lonely Planet for removing bullfighting images from its online Madrid ga...
Written by
on
27 August, 2010 : 07:00
This week's note from Douglas Batchelor, Chief Executive.
I suppose pre-season pheasant theft is bound to happen, but I couldn’t help a wry smile about the story regarding the hundreds of stolen ph...
Written by
on
26 August, 2010 : 12:15
It's not just the UK party conferences the League will be attending, we will also be out and about at the main conferences in Scotland, Northern Ireland and for the first time Wales.
We're all boo...
Written by
on
24 August, 2010 : 11:00
I have just finished reading Linda Colley’s Britons. In the book, Colley make a number of interesting points about the history of fox hunting.
Colley notes that during the eighteenth century, fox...