'A leading animal rights campaigner who once described hunting as 'barbaric and bloodthirsty' has joined the pro-hunting Countryside Alliance!James Barrington, a former director of the League Against Cruel Sports, is heading the Countryside Alliance's efforts to overturn the ban on hunting.'
He said foxes suffered more through snaring, poisoning and shooting than through hunting with hounds, which was banned in the controversial Hunting Act introduced by the Blair government in 2005.
'I think hunting is a positive and vitally important part of wildlife management, provided it is done within proper rules.
'Like a lot of people I was quite horrified by hunting and took the view that stopping it would improve animal welfare.
'But the Hunting Act has failed on every level, not least of all on animal welfare.'
All this does it to confirm conclusions reached in the government's own report on foxhunting which rather suggested that 'Foxes would vote for keeping hunting' on the grounds that the alternative ways in which they would die would be considerably more unpleasant.
As for me - it does not affect me in any way but I remain convinced that the current ban came about not from any concern for animal welfare but rather from the rancid - and in this case misplaced - class hatred which has infected our left and liberal left since time immemorial.
LINK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1148923/Leading-animal-rights-activist-defects-Countryside-Alliance--says-hunting-dogs-beneficial.html
