Katie Amess supports calls for stronger fox hunting laws

Actress and campaigner Katie Amess joined animal welfare campaigners from the League Against Cruel Sports outside parliament today to support calls for stronger fox hunting laws.

She was taking part in a guerilla advertising campaign that sprung up overnight in Westminster, aimed at MPs returning after the Christmas recess.

Katie Amess, whose father was the late Southend West MP Sir David Amess, said today she was vowing to carry on the animal protection work her father was so passionate about.

She said: “My dad isn’t here anymore to speak on behalf of animals so I will have to be his voice now.

“He would have been appalled to hear that hundreds of foxes are still being killed every year despite it being illegal.

“He would have liked to have seen people caught hunting being prosecuted and getting lengthy jail sentences.”

Emma Slawinski, chief executive at the League Against Cruel Sports, who was also at the event, thanked Katie for joining the team today.

She added: “People from across the political spectrum tell us how they support our campaign to clean up the Hunting Act and make it impossible for illegal hunting to continue as it has.

“These adverts on the streets of Westminster paint a clear picture that fox hunting laws don’t work and that foxes are still being chased and killed despite the ban.

“The time for change is now. We are calling on MPs to back the government’s planned consultation to ban trail hunting, to make the Hunting Act stronger and to ensure that an effective deterrent for would be lawbreakers is introduced in the form of jail sentences.”

The clean advertising campaign saw the League’s messages cleaned onto dirty pavements using stencils and industrial strength pressure cleaners and they will last around one week.

Sir David Amess was a lifelong animal welfare advocate, and patron of Conservatives Against Fox Hunting (The Blue Fox Group) for more than 10 years.

Figures released by the League Against Cruel Sports in advance of Boxing Day showed reports of illegal fox hunting have increased across the board as hunts begin to come to terms with a ban on trail hunting.

More information about the consultation, and how people can make their voice heard, is available here: https://www.league.org.uk/hunting_consultation.

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Notes to editors

For information or interview requests, please contact the League Against Cruel Sports Press Office on 01483 524250 or email pressoffice@league.org.uk