Leading animal welfare charity Cruelty Sports League has condemned plans to advance a national hunting festival, despite the conviction of a hunting community veteran for encouraging hunting to break the law.
Mark Hankinson, one of the hunting’s top bosses, was convicted late last year of knowingly encouraging or assisting another person to commit a crime under the Hunting Act 2004 because reported in ecologist.
The hunting festival is due to take place in Peterborough next month, but this week the charity was in town calling on politicians to condemn the incident.
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“They will continue to celebrate across the country a hoax and mirage that has been found in court to be old-fashioned illegal hunting,” said Chris Luffingham, external affairs director of the Sports League Against Cruelty.
Convicted under the Serious Crimes Act 2007, Hankinson told more than 100 hunters how to use the “smoke screen” of “stalking” hunting to evade hunting real animals.
Chris added: “Enough. We call on politicians to condemn dirty hunting festivals, strengthen hunting laws, and finally stop the great suffering of wild animals at the hands of these depraved and savage hunts.”
The Alliance’s event saw spectators and panelists lash out at the cruel and criminal world of hunting festivals and fox hunting.
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Dominic Dyer, policy adviser at the Born Free Foundation, said: “Fox hunting is an increasingly politically toxic activity that should go down in history.
“Despite the UK government’s failure to strengthen the Hunting Act, this will remain a key concern for all candidates at the next election.”
Writer, wildlife blogger and conservationist Kate Stephenson said: “The idea of ​​hosting the festival in Peterborough seemed completely illogical and disjointed.
“Especially because public opinion is strongly in favour of strengthening the Hunting Act, and hunting as it is known is a smokescreen for illegal activity.”
A series of the country’s largest landowners, including the National Trust, have now banned trail hunting on their lands, and the Lake District National Park Service is the latest agency to take this important step.
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Brendan Montague is the editor ecologist. This article is based on a press release from the Anti-Cruel Sports League.
