Special report: Is the ban on fox hunting working?
26-12-2009 BEN KENDALL, Eastern Daily Press, UK
It is almost five years since the ban on fox hunting came into force. While some celebrated, others lamented the demise of a countryside tradition and predicted the collapse of rural communities. Crime correspondent BEN KENDALL investigates the enforcement of the act and the impact it has had on East Anglia.
While the Conservatives may already regard the ban as dead legislation, Labour lists the act as one of its main achievements since its 1997 victory.
For the time being at least, the act remains in force - but from a policing perspective it does not seem to have had a widespread impact on their day-to-day job.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, the EDP asked Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire police about the enforcement of the act since it was introduced.
Perhaps, unsurprisingly, none of the forces have prosecuted a hunt or individual under the act and nationwide there have been just nine prosecutions of traditional hunts since the act came into force in February 2005.
This would suggest two things: either the law is not being regularly broken or the police are not enforcing it.
Police forces would insist that the latter is not the case. In East Anglia they have all drawn up comprehensive hunting policies, which they say ensure it is properly policed.
In Norfolk, reports of illegal hunts are graded as A or B - the two highest response grades. On occasions the force helicopter has been scrambled to investigate the allegations.
Since the introduction of the act, the force has received 48 complaints from members of the public and responded to 25 of these. In some cases no trace of the hunt could be found, in others the hunts were found to be legal.
Officers face a raft of difficulties in proving any complaint, not least the fact that hunts are fast moving events which cover miles of ground.
A recently report from the Association of Chief Police Officers acknowledged that the act was regarded as “unenforceable” by many. Forces accept that there is an “intelligence gap” when it comes to fox hunting.
Supt Carl Edwards, who heads Norfolk police's specialist operations unit, said the force took all complaints seriously having introduced policies to make sure the act was enforced and trained a number of specialist officers.
He added: “In a lot of cases a member of the public will see horses tearing across a field and assume it is illegal. There are a number of exemptions under the act, which allow hunts to take place and usually we find that hunts are perfectly legal.
“This is widely recognised as a challenging piece of legislation in enforcement terms. Hunts mostly take place on private land, which we cannot proactively patrol. We can only respond if we receive a specific complaint, which means that we can only police this reactively based on intelligence.
“There are groups who obviously oppose hunting and would be the first to tell us if illegal hunting is taking place on a large scale in the county. Therefore the intelligence we receive would suggest that on-the-whole the law is being complied with.
“Generally speaking hunters are intelligent and respectable people who are very well aware of the law.”
In most cases, hunts are found to be taking part in legal drag events, which have simply been misunderstood by members of the public who do not understand the intricacies of the act.
Exemptions under the act includes the use of dog to hunt rats or rabbits, to retrieve a hare once it has been shot or to flush out a wild mammal from cover to enable a bird of prey to hunt it. There is also a controversial “unintentional killing” get out clause.
Drag hunting - in which a scent is laid for dogs to follow - is among the most common activities.
But as one source said: “If a drag hunt is taking place and the hounds pick up the scent of a fox there is, with the best will in the world, nothing to stop the hunt pursuing that fox.
“If that happens there is nothing the police can do as it is perfectly legal. Of course there are some within the hunting fraternity who will exploit that kind of loophole.”
According to the police all of the region's hunts - West Norfolk Fox Hounds, North Norfolk Harriers, Dunston Harriers and Waveney Harriers - have adapted so that they are able to continue their activities within the confines of the law.
There is certainly some anecdotal evidence that illegal hunting is taking place on a small scale. “Some hunters are determined to continue as they did before,” the source added.
“They gather on a smaller scale, but continue to hunt with dogs precisely as they did in the past. They are very sensitive about attention; some insist that no mobile phones are carried so that there is no risk of evidence being gathered.
“It is impossible that illegal hunting will be stopped completely. It takes place on private land and is very difficult for the police to enforce.”
According to the Countryside Alliance, hunting is now more widespread than ever before, albeit in an adapted form. At a recent newcomers event, 3,000 people turned out nationwide to try hunting for the first time.
Hunts across East Anglia have maintained their infrastructure and many continue to breed hounds, regarding the law as a “temporary ban”.
The alliance's eastern region director Alice Barnard said that anecdotally “it seems more people are out hunting than ever before”.
She added: “This is the worst piece of legislation that has come into force for more than a decade. It does not seem to work on any level; not for the police, not for the courts and most certainly not for the countryside.
“It has been a complete waste of time and money from a policing point of view. From the rural community's point of view it has failed every test and when a law is so unworkable the only option left is to repeal it.
“Pre-ban we feared the legislation would have a huge impact on the rural economy. But rather than killing of hunts they are in fact thriving. This is because we have regarded the act as a temporary law and as a result we have kept the infrastructure and continued to bread hounds.”
Public opinion remains mixed and difficult to gauge. An Ipsos-Moral poll in September found 75pc in favour of the ban on fox hunting. But a recent Countryside Alliance poll - admittedly carried out with a clear agenda - found 57pc of those questioned believed the act was not working. Just under half, 49pc, backed repeal or a free vote on the issue.
The RSPCA insists the act is working. John Rolls, the charity's director of animal welfare promotion, said: “The Hunting Act has never been about stopping the activity of riding to hounds in the countryside - it was to prevent wild animals being chased and killed for sport.
“Hunting wild animals to a cruel and pointless death for sport is no longer tolerated by modern Britain. Thankfully it is now an enforceable crime and those who think otherwise will, where evidence comes to light, find themselves in court.”
The RSPCA also points out that there have been 48 prosecutions under the act - although the majority of these do not involve traditional hunts.
The society seems to be something of a lone voice in its insistence that the act is working. Those who oppose the act often believe it cannot be considered a true success.
But for all the noise calling for the act to be repealed, there is an equally vociferous camp which wants to see it maintained and even tightened.
Boxing Day will inevitably bring with it a show of force from the hunting community. Many who would not attend at any other time of year will be determined to continue a festive tradition and in turn show their support.
Those who remain opposed to the sport will be unperturbed. Lee Moon of the Hunt Saboteurs Association said: “The hunters make a big thing of Boxing Day, mobilising support which they don't usually have. We'll be there, but it's not a massive day for us. We're concentrating on campaigning for loopholes in the act to be closed and for more vigorous prosecution.”
(Bron: http://www.edp24.co.uk/)
(Bron foto: Eastern Daily Press)
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