Hunters outnumber activists by a 1000-1

Saturday, 27 December 2003 5:54 AM

A quarter of a million people gathered on Boxing Day, the biggest day in the blood sport's calendar, at hunts across the country, outnumbering the opposition by a "thousand to one," according to the Countryside Alliance.

Anti-hunting lobby, The League Against Cruel Sports, said thousands of protesters showed up at hunts to protest against the "barbaric" pastime.

The Countryside Alliance insists the sport is not cruel and an efficient way of keeping down fox populations.

An NOP poll, commissioned by the Countryside Alliance, showed only two per cent of Brits felt a hunting ban should have priority other issues, such as health, asylum-seekers and terrorism.

The poll found nearly half (46 per cent) of people thought the NHS was more important than anti-hunting laws.

But a poll for the International Fund for Animal Welfare in November claimed 76 per cent of Brits wanted hunting with dogs made illegal.

The Labour MP for Vauxhall Kate Hoey said yesterday the Government had wasted too much time on the issue: "The people out there in the country think this is a nonsense that we've spent so much time on it. I'm sure the Government wants to find a way out of this.

'I'm as concerned about animal welfare as anyone, but I think the problem with hunting is it's become one of those issues that is no longer about animal welfare but is simply about trying to stop something that people don't like, out of almost a kind of class hatred.'

Although a ban was not included in the Queen's Speech, the Government may invoke the Parliament Act to force a bill through.

Should the Government follow this path, this year's hunt will be the penultimate one before legislation finds its way onto the statute books.

The Hunting Bill has been rejected twice by peers.

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