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Latest News
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The RT Hon Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for EFRA, says
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BBC News, 7th July 2008,
The government will not issue licences to cull badgers to prevent cattle TB in England,
Hilary Benn has confirmed.
In a Commons statement, the environment secretary said that while a large-scale cull could improve
the situation, it could also make the problem worse.....
Rather than culling, vaccination will form a cornerstone of bovine TB policy, and the government
is to invest £20m into research.
The government based its decision on advice from the Independent Scientific Group which
it established to review research on the issue. The ISG concluded that culling would not be an economic
solution to the problem, as did the Environment and Rural Affairs select committee...(story}
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Western Daily Press, 19th July 2008
Pressure is growing for the badger cull in Wales to be cancelled.
The row over bovine TB erupted yesterday
after a group of MP's launched a campaign to stop the cull of badgers planned for Wales.
They have been signing a Commons early day motion congratulating Environment Secretary Hilary Benn on his principled stance in rejecting calls for a widespread
cull in England....
They hope Elin Jones, Minister for Rural Affairs at the Welsh Assembly "will set
aside her intention to allow a cull, and return to an evidence-based approach"....(story)
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Plans for a badger cull in
Wales have won the support of Conservative leader David Cameron during a visit to the Royal Welsh Show.
He said the Labour-Plaid Cymru Welsh Assembly Government
was taking a "sensible approach" to bovine TB.
A similar cull in England has been rejected by the Labour
UK government...(story)
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.............
Prime Minister's Questions - 9th July 2008 - Harriet Harman, Leader of the House of
Commons, taking questions:
Q3. [217083] Mr. John Spellar (Warley) (Lab): Given the
settled view of Parliament and the public that fox hunting should be banned, is my right hon. and learned Friend surprised
that some are still suggesting that they should try to overturn that ban? Can she reassure me that that is
not the policy of this Government, and in her reply, could she tempt the Opposition spokesman to make clear what
his party’s policy is?
Ms Harman: I know that the Leader of the Opposition wants
to repeal the ban on fox hunting. This House decided, on a free vote, that fox hunting was cruel and should
be banned. I voted in favour of that, and we all want to see the ban properly enforced. (Hansard)
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The Times 11th July 2008
Repeal of the Hunting Act clearly remains a hot issue in the Cameron family. Lord
Astor, a regular with the Old Berkshire Hunt, who is married to the mother of Samantha Cameron, has agreed
to become vice-chairman of the Repeal Committee, which is to lead the campaign to scrap the ban on the sport. So Dave knows that if he wants to keep the inlaws happy, one of his first deeds, in the event
of a Conservative election victory, will be to give Parliament a chance to remove the Act from
the statute... (story)
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" The hunters know their cause is deeply unpopular and that is why they operate in such
an underhand and secretive way to manipulate voters. David Cameron and the Conservative candidates are equally at fault
because they are plotting with the hunters. Their priority and hidden agenda is to bring back hunting and voters should be
made aware of this. Recent Tory successes look very hollow when this secret side of their support is revealed "
Penny Little of POWA
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HOORAY HENLEYS
Exclusive by Graham Brough
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David Cameron is relying on an army of hunt supporters helping Tory workers in today's Henley by-election.
Scores are expected on the streets of the town.
Leaked correspondence seen by the Mirror shows 300 pro-hunters
were out at last month's Crewe and Nantwich by-election, helping Tory members canvas for winner Edward Timpson.
They were members of Vote OK, a single issue lobby group which
wants to bring back hunting.
They were under strict instructions not to
talk about hunting and give the impression they were Tory aides. Henley candidate John Howell will have a
similar number in the safe Tory seat, - Boris Johnson's until he became London Mayor.
Hunt supporters were called to a meeting
of election helpers Mr Cameron addressed in Henley this month. His own election leaflets were posted by volunteers
from his local Heythrop Hunt.
One of its regulars is Charles Mann, a leader of Vote OK, who wrote in
a leaked email about Henley: "All this effort ... will build towards repeal."
Vote OK emails to hunts add: "Why all this effort
...? To achieve (our) aim of helping to deliver a government favourable to repeal."
Robbie Marsland, of the International Fund
for Animal Welfare, said: "Vote OK footsoldiers are acting like wolves in sheep's clothing. They hide their real agenda because
they know most are repulsed by blood sports."
Labour MP Phyllis Starkey said: "This is
fundamentally dishonest and undermines democracy." (story)
.................................
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Threat
to Ann Widdecombe MP on Pro-Hunt Web Site
DailyTelegraph
- 24/5/08 - Why make it easier for nutters to find MPs By Andrew Pierce
Sir Igor Judge, Lord Justice Latham and Mr Justice Blake are the judges who decreed that, from yesterday, all MPs should
publish their home addresses...
Last week, Ann Widdecombe showed a film to MPs of anti-hunt campaigners being hit, sworn at, threatened with death and their cars and cameras damaged. It also
showed a man threatening to punch a female hunt monitor - people who film hunts to make sure the ban is not flouted. A man
on horseback calls monitors "a dirty bunch of bloody paedophiles - you take pictures of minors, too. I will take your bloody
name and take your bloody face and put it on a paedophile website".
Charming stuff. Only a few days later, Widdecombe was subjected to a particularly sinister threat in an email
on a pro-hunting web site: "I have heard, from a very good source, that she is buying a property in -----. Maybe
we could monitor her daily comings and goings. When I have her address I can forward it to anyone interested in welcoming
her to her new home," it read.
After their Lordships' intervention, the anonymous website bully will have that address.....(story)
________________________
When the ban on hunting with dogs came into force in 2005, I offered lunch at the House of Commons
to the first police officer to mount a successful prosecution within a year. My money was safe.
Three years later, the cops have finally charged a foxhunt professional with illegally killing foxes. The
case comes to court in Cheltenham in July.
The defendant? None other than an employee of the Heythrop Hunt, of which David
Cameron is a member. Tally ho!
Daring Dave thrills at being "out of control" chasing a fox on
"a powerful steed". The rest of us find his idea of sport disgusting. (story..)
___________________________________
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First on Fox Killing Charge'
..."This is a turning point. It should
be where we start to see things
change. I commend Gloucestershire
police and the Crown Prosecution
Service for the way in which they
have been prrepared to go forward"....Penny
Little of POWA.
The professional employed by David Cameron's fox hunt yesterday became the first person to be charged
by police with illegally killing foxes under Labour's 2004 law.
The move will shock hunting associations which have flouted the Hunting Act since it came into force
in 2005.
Heythrop Hunt's professional huntsman Julian Barnfield, 44, faces three charges.
Tory leader Mr Cameron has ridden with the hunt, in the heartland of his constituency, at least six
times and has in the past described Labour's ban as bonkers.....(read on)
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14th May 2008 BBC News - Ferry in Court on Assault Charge
Pro-hunting campaigner Otis Ferry has appeared in court charged with attacking a hunt monitor and
robbing another at a countryside hunt.
The 25-year-old son of Rock Star Bryan Ferry did not enter pleas at Gloucester Crown Court. Mr
Ferry, of Eaton Mascot, Shropshire, spoke only to confirm his full name as Charles Frederick Otis Ferry. A
plea hearing was set for 25 July and a trial provisionally fixed for 15 September.
Mr Ferry is charged with robbing Susan Grima of a Samsung video camera, value unknown, on 21 November last
year at Lower Swell, Cheltenham. And is charged with assaulting Helen Ghalmi on the same date.
The incidents are alleged to have taken place while Mr Ferry was with the Heythrop Hunt, which covers Oxfordshire
and Gloucestershire. He has been released on unconditional bail.
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13th May 2008 - Hunt Monitors' Footage played to MP's Reception at Westminster
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14th May 2008 - Westminster Blog: Anti-Hunt Campaign Back on the Agenda
Political Editor Phil Hornby blogs from
Parliament
If you thought the debate about fox-hunting was well and truly over - think again.
Ann Widdecombe, MP for Maidstone and an indefatigable anti-hunt campaigner, held
a film-show at Westminster, and it wasn't for the squeamish.
It was an hour of footage shot by 'hunt monitors' - people who spend their weekends
in the countryside, armed with video cameras, collecting evidence that the ban is being flouted.
Certainly, the film
did seem to show that hunting with hounds still goes on, although whether these were isolated incidents, or whether abuse
of the law is widespread, it's impossible to say.
Ms Widdecombe recognises that the hunting ban can't be policed properly.
So she reckons the monitors should be licensed, and the Crown Prosecution Service ("So weak!” she says) should take
their findings more seriously.....(read on)
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15th April 2008 Daily Mirror - Bloody 'warning' to animal campaigner Helen
An animal rights campaigner was left trembling with fear after this dead fox was dumped on her
car.
Horrified Helen Weeks is certain it was a gruesome "warning" from hunt supporters.
But the hunt monitor has vowed not to stop trying to ensure hunts in Somerset and Dorset obey
the law.....(read on)
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