Conservatives Against Fox Hunting’s Co Founder with the IFAW hare at the Hampshire Against Hunting Rally at Southampton Solent University.
The event was a positive success on the 19th February at Southampton Solent University. The event was sponsored by The International Fund For Animal Welfare(IFAW) and The League Against Cruel Sports. John Denham MP hosted the event and Alan Whitehead MP chaired the panel of key Speakers. These included the two above Labour MPs, Chris Bluemel of the Green Party, Councillor Peter Chegwyn of the Liberal Democrats, Councillor Fran Carpenter of the Conservatives and Chris Platt, Conservative Association Chairman and Co Founder of Conservatives Against Fox Hunting.Chris Packham, patron of numerous notable conservation charities also attended.
http://yfrog.com/h2ug2tj– Please click link for a twitterpic of the speakers
A question and answer session followed after the individual talks. A few pro hunting people attended the talks and concentrated on fox hunting. Our co Founder raised the point during the audience participation session that the Hunting Act was also in force to protect hares from the sport of hare coursing and that there is simply no justification whatsoever for this activity. The audience was then invited to take refreshments and talk personally with any of the Speakers. The CAFH founders discussed hunting with a group of hunters who literally turned up in their flat caps, barbour jackets and wellies in an informal face to face talk in the refreshments room! Opposite views were exchanged in a friendly manner on both sides and a good dialogue was established. It is important that both sides discuss their concerns in a reasonable and non confrontational way. It was pointed out that hunters are in a minority and that the majority of the UK are against hunting with dogs for sport. People who engage in these minority sports may feel disappointed that their view is not shared by most people and will have to eventually accept that times have moved on and people are less tolerant of unnecessary suffering.
When a few politicans respond that they think that the Hunting Act has not enhanced animal welfare at all we would like to remind them that it bans hare coursing outright. How a hare can benefit in welfare terms from a return of being chased and often killed by dogs for sport is simply extraordinary. We ask these politicans to listen to the expertise of our animal welfare orgainsations such as the RSPCA and IFAW and their direct animal welfare concerns and not be swayed by the pro hunting minority with their concerns of their sport on this issue. In very basic terms, would we tend to believe a group of dog fighters if they wanted to repeal the legislation on dog fighting for sporting reasons or the RSPCA and their animal welfare concerns for the dogs? The same principle applies to the hunting issue. Don’t listen to the hunters- listen to the RSPCA and their concerns for the welfare of wild animals.
