Why I had to break the law (From Gazette & Herald)

Why I had to break the law

I ACCEPT that there is nothing more stupid than spraying road signs. I am sorry to have to admit that I did this in order to keep hunting in the press and provide some evidence of the frustration and depth of feeling among country people.

I am equally sorry that it came to the point that I felt such action necessary. I hoped that it might make our politicians sit up and listen - rather than be dismissive of a lifestyle that is far from the urban life that most people now live.

I wanted to have a say, and make a point. I honestly felt a little stupidity now might save a whole lot of aggravation later. People may not agree with what I did, but no one should doubt the depth of sincerity and frustration that makes an ordinary law-abiding person do something so completely out of character when faced with the seeming indifference and venomous hostility to his liberty and, as a farmer, his livelihood.

I believe that foxhunting has much to commend it.

The sport is not in the kill, the sport is in the chase. The chase is like a mixture of skiing and fishing. Cruising along with the wind in your face on your best mate's back - his ears pricked, neck arched - with all the sights, smells and sounds of the countryside coming at you in all weathers. You feel alive.

The sport is accessible. You can buy a horse now for the price of a set of golf clubs - you can keep it for the cost of going to football matches. Membership of a hunt group is cheaper than a season ticket at Leeds.

I am not going to avoid the big issue here - what about the cruelty? How can I call an animal being torn to bits, "sport"?

I know how easy it is to lay your emotions on the fox. Imagine it is you running away, terrified about what may be going to happen to you - who will feed the kids, who will pay the mortgage? That terrible image in your sub-conscious of the blood and giblets. Foxes have no such imagination.

I can only remember two occasions in ten years when I have seen a fox chased to exhaustion. I have seen, though, foxes with the hounds getting close, clap down in cover and the hounds run right over them - and the fox then get up and chase the hounds. I have seen a fox with the hounds 50 yards behind stop at a post to check for messages, and leave his own. Last season, a friend said he saw the fox, with the hounds tight behind, stop and sniff at and carry with him a chicken carcass left in the hedge.

I also believe that death for a fox, when it comes, from a pack of hounds is as humane as you can get. Having been through a windscreen in an accident and suffered shock, I believe nature "takes care of its own" - with shock you feel no pain.

I have also been out "lamping" foxes with a pig farmer one night, whose "welfare-friendly" farrowing outdoor sows were having piglets taken away by a "pack" of foxes, as fast as they popped out. From the back of a Land Rover, we killed more than ten - one with a piglet in its mouth - and wounded several more. The chances of the wounded surviving are slim. It can take a long time to die by a gunshot wound. I'd rather take my chances with a pride of lions than a farmer with a 12-bore any day - but that is "humanising" again.

I hope people can now understand my views. I know many people will vehemently disagree, and still find foxhunting repulsive. I hope they can see that it is such a subjective subject, an emotive topic, but one which is qualitatively different to cockfighting, bull-fighting or badger-bating.

We see foxhunting as having a purpose. It has no more impact on the welfare of the animal than falconry, fishing, zoos, shooting, and many other ways in which people take pleasure out of animals' suffering. No matter how distasteful these things seem to some, most have the sense to see that there should be no law against it.

There is a difference between town and country.

If I had a chance to ask Tony Blair or "concerned from Islington" just one question. I would offer a multiple choice.

"Out for a stroll in the country with your family, and you come across a rabbit with myximitosis, with its eyes popped out, unable to breathe properly, a temperature in the 100s, in severe pain and suffering. What is the right thing to do:

a) Walk past and try not to notice it?

b) Subject it to more trauma and terror by cuddling it and transport it to some animal hospital and pay for it to be 'put down'?

c) Find a stick and 'put it out of it's misery'?"

In the countryside, it is a fact of life that there are times that you must be cruel to be kind.

With the fantastic turnout of over 400,000 people on the Liberty and Livelihood March, the thing we have got is a mandate for more direct action - and it does seem that that is all the government understands.

Once a ban comes into force, no amount of protest would ever change the law back again. I appeal to all pro-hunters - don't just sit back after the march and think that's it. You perhaps have another few weeks before Minister of State for Rural Affairs Alun Michael draws up his legislation. That doesn't leave us much time to let him know how you feel.

To send a letter to Mr Michael, address it to: Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR

Updated: 09:19 Wednesday, October 16, 2002