The facts about otter hunting (From Gazette & Herald)

The facts about otter hunting

4:31pm Wednesday 24th February 2010

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PETER Walker needs to get a few facts right about otter hunting (Gazette & Herald, February 17) before he writes his next article on the subject.

In the 1940s, some people may have regarded otters as “pests that needed to be controlled”, but Mr Walker should not claim that this was the universal view. In the 1940s, most people had other issues to worry about.

When otter numbers started to decline in the 1950s and 60s, hunting had to have played a part. If it did not, then the hunts obviously hadn’t been controlling numbers.

The biggest fallacy in Mr Walker’s article, is that otter hunters voluntarily gave up their chosen bloodsport, seemingly out of empathy for a creature they had previously enjoyed setting a pack of dogs on to.

The bloodsports fanatics lost their battle to retain otter hunting in 1978 and swiftly switched to mink hunting.

However, with compassionate Cameron promising to repair “broken Britain” by reintroducing a banned bloodsport, you can bet that if he’s successful, the hunters will be demanding that the otter is added to their list of victims.

Tommy Woodward, Pickering

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