27 January 2000
Dear Prime Minister
I write on behalf of The West Essex Committee of The British Association for Shooting and Conservation.
We are very deeply concerned that the proposed bill to stop the Hunting with Dogs will irretrievably damage the country way of life.
For Centuries the countryside has revolved around the nucleus of the village, food has been taken from the land and people, on the whole, have survived being independent from the towns.
In this time the country communities have bonded and gelled far better than their urban neighbours, with different thoughts and traditions.
One of these traditions is of course the hunting of animals using various methods including the use of packs of dogs. To the outsider this practice may appear abhorrent, it is however the ONLY method that guarantees that the target species is either alive or dead at the end of the day. Indeed the make-up of the countryside is directly linked to the history of shooting and hunting, all you have to do is look at an Ordnance Survey map of a rural area in prime Hunting country to see the woods and copses that has made Britain’s countryside what it is today. Even when timber crop prices were high and more money could have been taken by felling the woods they were left for the sport.
That there is a need for control is undeniable, populations of animals cannot adjust by any other way other than starvation, control by man is the only alternative.
I know that you have a huge majority in the House and with such a large number of urban Members of Parliament you feel very confident that the Act will pass without any trouble at all, but please before we pass the point of no return, listen to the countryside, surely the marches and the rallies have told you that. The London March in 1998 has got to be one of the largest organised marches ever, with no trouble, yet can that be said when students or The Antis or other anarchic groups demonstrate? these are after all the same people that are pushing you to put forward the Act of Parliament.
Your government has been in power for long enough to be tackling major issues, The NHS, Public Transport (once again the rural areas are very poorly served), and crime (one area that does not need as much spent as the towns!). these issues to the majority of the electorate are thousands of times more important than the banning of hunting with dogs.
Terrorists have been released by your Government in Northern Ireland, with little or no agreement that they won’t start murdering again if they don’t get their way. Yet you want to alienate a current law abiding section of society, for no other reason that some people don’t like either the people taking part in the sport or the way it is done.
Please don’t make hasty decisions on gut reactions; the countryside needs to be looked after, let the people that live and work there do as they know best.
Yours Sincerely
Nick Baker (Secretary)
CC Lord Burns
Date uploaded to site 5 May 2000