Hunting with Dogs: Past, Present but No Future
The League Against Cruel Sports has today published a report which, it claims, exposes 'lies' put forward by the pro-hunting lobby in attempts to gather support for their campaign to repeal the Hunting Act.
Hunting with Dogs: Past, Present but No Future is the first significant publication on the hunting issue for several years, and comes ten years after the Burns Inquiry reported to parliament that fox hunting "seriously compromises the welfare" of the hunted fox. Hunting for sport was banned in 2004 but the coalition government has pledged to revisit the issue.
In what is regarded by the League as a major addition to their campaign armoury, a Durham University academic has added the support of nineteenth centry philosopher John Stuart Mill to the League's campaign, using Mill's abhorrence of hunting as a sign that the leading proponent of freedom and liberty did not believe that there can be a liberty to be cruel.
Leading criminal barrister, John Cooper QC, who is also chairman of the League, described the report as 'seminal', adding, "It's baffling that the bloodsports lobby continue their campaign when the country is settled in its view that such activities are rightly illegal. If burglars were to march on parliament arguing that the Theft Act infringed their rights, their argument would be dismissed as nonsense. It's time to stop listening to these rural thugs and this report summarises the recent evidence in favour of the ban."
- Hunting with Dogs: Past, Present but No Future
- Read Prof Scarre's Foreword on the League's blog