23rd December 2011 POWA Press
Released to all national, regional and local daily newspapers, and a large number of broadcasters -
In advance of the Boxing Day meets, Protect Our Wild Animals is calling upon the Prime Minister to renounce his commitment
to trying to repeal the Hunting Act and to denounce and clamp down on the 'cynical subterfuge' being employed by Hunts
nationwide to flout the both the spirit and letter of the Act. POWA says it is an open secret
that many Hunts are now exploiting a combination of weakness and loopholes in the Act and a lack of enforcement of it to chase
and kill live quarry much as they did before the ban. Spokesman Alan Kirby said: "Numerous
reports from activists and independent witnesses alike nationwide suggest that hunting of wild mammals is happening widely.
It is clear that Hunts are often simply pretending to be using certain exemptions or 'Trail Hunting', and also pretending
every time they are seen chasing or killing forbidden quarry that they lost control of their hounds by 'accident'.
Recently, a fox was 'accidentally' chased into a family's garden in Essex and bludgeoned
to death by the whipper-in a few feet from the horrified residents. Yet Essex police stated there was nothing they could do
about this outrage. Days later a beloved pet cat was 'trail hunted' to death by N.Yorkshire hunts, and this week another
fox was 'trail hunted' through a housing estate and hounds ran on to a major road in Shropshire in yet another 'freak
accident'. The 'cynical subterfuge' which a Judge recently said Leicestershire hunters
had employed to try to disguise their crimes seems very widespread. Hunts are making a mockery of the authorities and of the
democratically enacted will of the people. With typical arrogance and contempt for others, they are behaving as if they were
above the rule of law, much as inner-city gangs did in August. Like those looters and rioters, these rural gangsters should
be brought sharply to heel, whatever their social status. When criminals circumvent the law, it should be strengthened to
stop them, not repealed to reward them." POWA also feels that the 'chocolate box'
images of Hunts at occasions such as Boxing Day meets universally shown by the media not only help hide the cruel truth from
the public but now almost risk colluding with the law-breakers. Mr. Kirby said: "We challenge
newspapers this year to print, and broadcasters to show, images of the brutal and sordid reality of hunting, its 'sharp
end', where terrified and exhausted wild animals are ripped at by slavering hounds cheered on by excited hunters. The
picturesque spectacle of Boxing Day meets is undeniable. But, knowingly or not, by attending, or by blandly or admiringly
reporting on them, people are effectively endorsing something very nasty." ENDS Notes for editors: See POWA website, UK Hunting News page for many reported instances of outrageous, illegal and violent behaviour this season. These are just the 'highlights'
to date:- Nationwide - League Against Cruel Sports report finding numerous artificial fox earths
apparently in use by Hunts
Cheshire - Hunt Redcoat's horse filmed being fiercely beaten with
whip by another hunter
Cumbria - Police announce increased patrols of 'Trail Hunts' following
'community concerns'
Cumbria - Stray hounds from Hunt filmed trying to catch cat
Dorset/Somerset borders - Hunt chases fox across A30 then blocks traffic while they hold procession along highway
Dorset/Somerset borders - Hunt hounds mill around on mainline railway after fox filmed fleeing along
line
Durham - Monitors film what looks identical to pre-ban 'cub hunting' Essex - Huntsman
clubs fox to death feet away from horrified residents on their patio
Gloucs - Hounds invade banned
land and savage alpacas
Herefordshire - Independent witness reports apparent cub-hunting going
on openly
Kent - Hunt invades village early in morning, rampages through gardens, kills fox and
leaves corpse behind
Lancashire - Independent, local witnesses see Hunt hounds and riders chasing
hare
Leicestershire - 2 hunt servants' appeals dismissed by Judge who scorns hunters' 'cynical
subterfuge'
Leicestershire - Motorist couple's nightmare drive into midst of 'illegal'
fox hunt. Police investigating
Oxfordshire - Huntsman of 'David Cameron's Hunt' is
charged, for the second time, with illegal hunting of foxes
N.Yorks - Hounds kill beloved pet cat, hunter steals body,
Hunt eventually returns it in a dog food bag
Shropshire - Hunters chase fox through a housing estate
and run on to major road in another 'freak accident'
Somerset - Huntsman convicted of racially
abusing anti-hunt activist
Somerset - A different Huntsman convicted of violent assault on hunt
monitor
Sussex - Four senior Hunt members charged with illegal hunting
Sussex
- Hunt supporter convicted of threatening behaviour
Sussex - Huntsman filmed whipping saboteur
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20th March 2011
As a result of an exchange between Roger Williams, Lib-Dem MP for Brecon & Radnor, and Jim Paice, Conservative, DEFRA
Minister, which gave credence to myths that have been circulating for many years regarding alleged sightings of urban foxes
being dumped en masse in the countryside, POWA today issued the following release: -
 Press release from PROTECT OUR WILD ANIMALS
Protect Our Wild Animals [POWA]
has accused DEFRA Minister Jim Paice and Lib-Dem MP Roger Williams of wilfully peddling hoary old pro-hunt propagandist myths
as fact, in an attempt to demonise both foxes and animal abuse activists, following an exchange between them in the Commons
on Thursday [17/3]. The group suspect that exchange of being part of a propaganda offensive aimed
at weakening the presently overwhelming public opposition to a repeal of the Hunting Act. POWA is calling upon both men
to publicly acknowledge that stories of foxes being transported en masse from towns to be dumped in the countryside are just
that, and that there is no reliable evidence to support these absurd anecdotes - which have been circulating for decades.
POWA Associate and RSPCA Council member, John Bryant, a former CEO and Wildlife Officer of the League Against Cruel
Sports, who now runs a humane wild animal deterrence service, said:- "Fox dumping is a rural myth, surfacing
whenever the fox hunting is at issue. For 20 years I have written to the press offering up to £1,000 for evidence identifying
any culprit. I have never received even one claim. Amazingly, people have written to papers detailing large and exact
numbers of foxes they claim to have seen being dumped - but never manage to get the alleged vans' registrations.
The Fox Project too offers a reward - again no claims. The Union for Country Sports also asked for evidence
to support these allegations and reported nothing concrete. A BBC Countryfile investigation was equally fruitless. One
of the country's leading fox experts, Professor Stephen Harris, has described these stories as 'fabricated'.* Such operations would, anyway, be very difficult to conduct, let alone conceal, and extremely costly
in time and resources. Nor is it anything animal protection activists or local authorities would do. The RSPCA consider that
such movement would be cruel and almost certainly criminal. POWA spokesman Alan Kirby added "The conclusion
is inescapable. These tales are actually just yet more lies from people who will say anything to promote their 'right'
to be cruel to animals, especially foxes, for 'sport'. For Jim Paice to pretend concern for foxes' welfare
is particularly sickening as he is a strong supporter of fox hunting, and, I believe, once scornfully decried the
humane alternative - drag-hunting - as being like 'kissing one's sister'. Mr. Paice is now a Minister
of the Crown and required to display a rather higher level of integrity than was apparent in his Commons answer to a fellow
pro-hunting MP."
ENDS
* "Have
you heard the one about vanloads of urban foxes being dumped in the countryside, where they die a slow and lingering death
(or are put out of their misery by a passing gamekeeper)? It was always a white van and the sighting was always by a
"friend" or "someone else". The story is a myth: who could catch a van load of foxes in a city without
being noticed? It's all a fabricated story that's persisted for 40 years and is still regularly repeated in
the press. It's all rubbish, but proves that the fox-myth industry is alive and well"
Prof. Stephen Harris, Bristol University, in BBC Wildlife Magazine, May 2007
13th March 2009
POWA Statement to the Press This press release is to clarify the role of POWA, Protect Our Wild
Animals Limited, a political campaigning group that focuses on lobbying Parliament and the Government in an effort to improve
the laws designed to protect wild animals. The collation and presentation
of lawfully obtained evidence to demonstrate the need for amendments to such legislation forms a part of these campaigns.
The Hunting Act 2004 is a case in point and there are a number of
individuals throughout the UK who, independently, peaceably and lawfully monitor the activities of hunts. These individuals
are at liberty to offer their evidence to POWA for review and possible use in the campaign to strengthen the Hunting Act. POWA has a policy not to comment on individuals or individual cases in order to protect their privacy. POWA liaises regularly with police forces throughout the country and has worked closely with a number of
MP’s over many years on all aspects of POWA’s campaigns. POWA’s
current campaign to ‘Build on the Ban and Strengthen the Act’ supports Early Day Motion 122 – Hunting with
Dogs, tabled by John McDonnell MP, which calls for amendments to the Hunting Act to include a reckless behaviour clause. This
motion has been signed by 98 MP’s so far. John B Campbell BVSc MRCVS POWA Director
22nd December 2008 - POWA Press Release
Make the Hunting Act ‘Fit for Purpose’
The wildlife campaigning group POWA - Protect Our Wild Animals, has stepped
up their campaign to ‘Build on the Ban - Strengthen the Act’ in support of MP John McDonnell’s
Early Day Motion calling for a reckless behaviour clause to be added to the Hunting Act 2004. POWA
are delighted that 65 MP’s have shown their support for the *Motion overall in just six weeks. EDM
122 will stay in place until next October so POWA are confident that these MP’s will be joined by many more when Parliament
resumes from the Xmas break on 12th January 2008. POWA have produced a pack detailing their proposals for a small number of straightforward
amendments to the Hunting Act 2004 in support of MP John McDonnell’s Early Day Motion and this pack is being sent to
MP’s and other interested parties for their consideration. The pack can also be viewed online at www.powa.org.uk Penny Little, spokesperson for Protect Our Wild Animals
said “There are two ways of
looking at the situation surrounding the hunts. One is that trail hunting is a complete fiction used as a cover for illegal
foxhunting, with the alleged similarities to foxhunting due to the fact that it is foxhunting. Hunt monitors are certain this
is the case. “The other option is to see that the practices
of “trail” hunting as described by the hunters themselves are so utterly reckless that they are virtually certain
to result in “accidents”, and lots of them.
“Either way, it is time for MPs to revisit the Hunting Act, and make that
small adjustment that would make the law fit for its purpose, because at present the proscribed quarry species continue to
be hunted exactly as before the ban.”
4th November 2008, POWA Press Release
(see Hunt Havoc page for additional stills)
MP Backs Call to Toughen Law on Hunting
The campaign group POWA - Protect Our Wild Animals, has responded to the start of a new hunting season by calling
on MP’s and the Government to remember all of the cruel and barbaric practices that
the Hunting Act was meant to outlaw and show a renewed commitment to the hunt ban by addressing the failings in the legislation.
Their campaign has won the immediate support
of Labour MP John McDonnell who is backing the call for the Government to act now to toughen the law against hunting. John said “There
is mounting evidence that hunts are avoiding the law and by various devices continuing the barbaric practice of hunting foxes
down to a bloody kill. The Government needs to act to prevent this abuse of the spirit of the anti hunting legislation.”
Watch a short video compilation from the POWA DVD 'Hunting
Anarchy' below
the case for strengthening the Hunting Act
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POWA – Protect Our Wild Animals has received hours
of footage from hunt monitors¹ and reports from country dwellers of what they regard as reckless and lawless behaviour by
the hunts ever since the Hunting Act became law four years ago.
Penny Little, spokesperson
for POWA said "When
the general public pressed their MPs to ban hunting, they did not want a ban
that would allow hunts to behave with such arrogance and deceit. They wanted the practice to be stopped,
with genuine drag hunting the only legal alternative.
Penny added “The practices of "trail"
hunting as described by the hunters themselves are so utterly reckless that they are virtually certain to result in “accidents”.
But this outrageous situation can be resolved by amending the Hunting Act to include a ‘reckless behaviour clause’
by making it an offence to ‘cause or permit a dog to hunt, attack,
injure or kill a wild mammal’. That removes the possibility of an accident being used as a defence,
and removes the need for intent to be proved in court.”
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Stills - click on photo to enlarge
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1st November 2008 - POWA Press Release
Remember, Remember the Fear of November
Another hunting season begins on the 1st November and the campaign group POWA - Protect Our Wild
Animals is urging MP’s and the Government to remember all of the cruel
and barbaric practices that the Hunting Act was meant to outlaw.
Penny Little, spokesperson for POWA said “It
was an historic achievement when the Hunting Act reached the statute books. But it is vital that we remember the terror and torment suffered by wild animals hounded for so-called ‘sport’ and remember that the aim of this legislation was to deter or punish this cruelty which continues despite the ban.” POWA has received hours of footage from hunt monitors and reports from country dwellers of what they regard as lawless
behaviour by the hunts ever since the Hunting Act became law four years ago. Helen Weeks, a hunt monitor, said “Anyone
who comes out with us will see that the only thing standing between the hunted animal and the hounds are the monitors and
their camcorders. They will see hunt supporters using intimidation and violence to stop us from filming and they will see
how many hunts are left to their own devices leaving our wildlife in great peril. We urge the MP’s
to remember why they voted for the ban
and to remember the wild animals they hoped it would protect.” POWA is calling on
MP’s and the Government to turn their attention back to this serious issue with a renewed commitment to address the
failings in the Hunting Act and to enforce the law.
Penny Little added
"The Government could start by condemning the leader of the opposition, David
Cameron, who has promised to reward law-breaking hunts by removing the Hunting Act. This is encouraging anarchy in the countryside, endangering hunt monitors and pouring scorn on the judgement of
the majority of people who support the ban." ........................................................................................
the case for strengthening the Hunting Act
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