Vets to join Ryedale hunt (From Gazette & Herald)

Vets to join Ryedale hunt

MEMBERS of a national group for veterinary surgeons who support hunting with dogs are to join a Ryedale hunt.

About 30 people from Vets For Hunting will ride with the Middleton Hunt starting out from TM Abram stud, Busk Hill, Westow, Burythorpe, on Wednesday.

The group has chosen Yorkshire as the destination for its third annual hunt and is supported by a number of local members.

Jonathan Pycock, of Malton, a stud practice vet with 12 years' experience, said: "We honestly believe that the best way of dispatching these animals (foxes) is hunting. Vets are in a good position to pass an opinion with some sort of weight behind it."

Ann Bosanquet, of Flaxton, York, whose partner Edmund Collins is a vet at Welburn, York, and a member of the group, said: "I think it's great because all the vets are absolutely committed in their life and work to the welfare of animals.

"The hunting issue has been hijacked by people who want to ban it on the grounds of animal welfare. Animal welfare has not got anything to do with it. I live my life with animals, spend most of my income and resources on animals and I don't think it's a cruel way of controlling foxes. They have to be controlled some way. This method they are killed immediately."

Vets For Hunting was founded by vets Dr Lewis Thomas, of Newbury, and Professor Twink Allen, director of the equine fertility unit at Newmarket, at the end of 1999. It now has 530 members nationally.

"We came to the conclusion that there was a need for an injection of veterinary common sense in the hunting debate, " said Dr Thomas.

"I have never come across any legitimate or substantial argument on the welfare side that would justify a ban on hunting."

Dr Thomas said Vets For Hunting was not established to promote of hunting, but instead to promote the welfare of animals, particularly four quarry animals - the fox, hare, deer and mink.

A spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports said: "It doesn't matter whether it's nurses, miners, bin men or vets who are hunting, it's still a barbaric sport. I'm sure that there are more than 530 vets across the country who disagree with the principles of this group."

Updated: 11:15 Friday, October 03, 2003