The League Against Cruel Sports considers the hunting and killing of wild mammals with dogs to be immoral, cruel and unnecessary, and to have no place in a modern society.
The League welcomed and supports the legislation banning the hunting of wild mammals with dogs in Scotland, England and Wales. The Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Hunting Act 2004 provides for a major improvement in human behaviour towards animals. The League will monitor and promote the effective enforcement of each Act and where it is clear that the Acts can be improved, the League will actively seek such improvements.
Wild mammals should be provided with the same degree of protection as domestic and farmed animals. The penalties for causing unnecessary suffering to all mammals (the legal definition of cruelty) should be the same irrespective of whether they are wild, farmed or domestic.
Fox hunting
The evidence shows that fox hunting does not have a significant effect on the fox population. The evidence also shows that the hunted fox suffers unnecessarily both during the chase and at the kill. The evidence further shows that hunt supporters and others actively conserve, rear and feed foxes to ensure that there is an adequate supply of animals for hunting. Far from being a pest species, the fox population in many hunt areas is conserved to ensure plenty of good days' sport.
The construction and use of artificial earths and the feeding of foxes at or near artificial earths should be banned. The use of closed artificial earths to rear orphaned or captured fox cubs for hunting should also be banned.
The practice of earth-stopping should be banned. Hunt staff and/or supporters still regularly block fox earths and badger setts to prevent the hunted fox from going to ground. The practice illustrates that, by blocking off fox refuge points, the intention of the hunt is to chase the fox for sport for as long as possible. This is clearly a deliberate and premeditated attempt to cause unnecessary suffering and should be made illegal.
The practice of earth-stopping can of itself also be a cruel act. As part of the hunting season coincides with the time of year when vixens give birth, earth-stopping can prevent foxes reaching their cubs to feed them and it can trap foxes and their cubs in their earths. There can be no animal welfare-based need for interference with a fox earth and therefore the practices of earth-stopping should be made illegal.
The evidence shows, despite the farming myth, that the fox is rarely the cause of death lambs. Hypothermia, malnutrition and poor husbandry are all far more common causes of lamb mortality. The scientific evidence does not support the commonly held view that the fox is a mass killer. In fact the evidence shows that the fox has an important role to play in the rural ecology, and that the fox population self-regulates in relation to available territories and food supply without the need for intervention by man.
The evidence shows, despite the farming myth, that the fox is rarely the cause of death of the lamb. Hypothermia, malnutrition and poor husbandry are all far more common causes of lamb mortality. The scientific evidence does not support the commonly held view that the fox is a mass killer. In fact the evidence shows that the fox has an important role to play in the rural ecology, and that the fox population self-regulates in relation to available territories and food supply without the need for intervention by man.
The League believes that fox control should be allowed only where there is a proven problem with individual foxes and that even then, the control should be limited to humane methods that are specific to the problem fox and carried out only by people who are properly trained and equipped.
The League supports the legislation that bans the hunting, baiting and coursing of wild mammals with dogs, and the associated practice of badger sett-blocking. We want to see such legislation extended to other legislative jurisdictions. The Acts in Scotland and in England and Wales ban the cruelty of chasing wild animals with dogs. However, we wish to see amendments to the Acts to ban the cruelty of hunting foxes with terriers below ground and to ensure that users of packs of dogs take proper care to ensure that foxes are not chased or attacked by dogs. In Scotland, we additionally wish to see an end to the flushing of foxes with packs of dogs.
The unting of deer with dogs was banned in Scotland in 1959 and in England and Wales in 2004. In England and Wales, it was principally red deer that were hunted with hounds although Roe deer were also hunted by at least two unrigistered hunts. Packs of dogs were used to chase deer for up to five hours and 20 miles across country. When deer are exhausted they usually stand at bay and are then shot by the hunt. There is no need for the chase, which is solely undertaken for the sporting pleasure of the hunt and its followers. A study led by a President of the Royal Society, Professor Patrick Bateson, on the effect of hunting on the hunted deer, led to the National Trust and the Forestry Commission banning deer hunting on their land.
In most countries where there is a proven need to control deer it is humanely done by shooting by a properly trained and equipped marksman. Recent evidence, however, suggests that the level of culling normally undertaken has no significant long-term impact on either the deer population or the behaviour of members of it. The evidence clearly shows that most deer shooting is for sport and that while it may be carried out humanely it is none the less unnecessary. Deer hunting with dogs is wholly unnecessary and subjects the quarry animal and its herd mates to unnecessary suffering. The League supports legislation that bans deer hunting and wishes to see the ban extended to Northern Ireland.
Hare hunting
Hare hunting was carried out with packs of dogs followed either on foot or horseback and is a bloodsport. The hare is a listed Biodiversity Action Plan species and is rarely the cause of damage to grassland or crops to any economic significance.
Dogs hunt hares to the point when they can no longer evade the lead dog and are then brought down and savaged to death by the pack. Most hunting dogs are not big or powerful enough to kill a hare by shaking and neck dislocation. Post-mortems show massive injury to the chest and abdomen, internal bleeding and other signs of trauma before death.
The League supports the legislation that bans hare hunting. It wishes to see this legislation extended to Northern Ireland.
Mink hunting
Mink hunting was carried out by packs of dogs, frequently descended from otter hounds, which can no longer legally be used for otter hunting.
The mink is not a native British species following illegal and accidental releases from fur farms. Mink are usually driven off their territories by otters and as the otter becomes less rare have been naturally controlled on many waterways now inhabited by otters.
Mink hunting with dogs is a bloodsport, where the intention is to chase and then kill a mink with dogs. Mink hunts take place along riverbanks, which disturbs the habitats of many species, can cause significant damage to endangered animals and their environments, and can end in a cruel and barbaric death for the quarry mink. Where it is necessary and appropriate to do so, cage-trapping can effectively and humanely control mink.
The League supports the legislation that bans mink hunting. It wishes to see this legislation extended to Northern Ireland.
Drag hunting
Drag hunting can provide an alternative sport to the hunting of wild mammals with dogs and be safer for riders, horses, dogs and , of course, wildlife.
The hounds hunt either the natural scent of a human runner, knows as the 'clean boot' or an artificial scent laid down by a horse rider over a predetermined route; because the route is predetermined the hounds can be kept safely away from livestock, vulnerable crops, roads and railway lines. The route can also be organised so that the risk to sensitive and fragile habitats can be minimised and the drag hunts kept away from areas where they are unwelcome and/or can pose a threat to other domestic and farmed animals.
The number of drag hunts has more than doubled since 1965 and as well as providing sport drag hunting can also provide a focus for social activities.
Cruelty to working dogs
The League Against Cruel Sports is opposed to the culture of exploitation, cruelty and abuse of animals associated with hunting and coursing.
Hunts regularly breed more puppies than are required for the hunting pack. Through selection after birth, after weaning, after rearing and through testing by hunting, dogs are selected for the pack. Those that fail to make the grade at any stage from birth onwards are killed. Once dogs have entered the pack they are culled if they fail to thrive as pack animals, if they become ill and unable to keep up with the pack, when they become too old to hunt with the pack, or when they become surplus to hunt requirements. The average hunt dog lives half the normal life expectancy for a dog of the breed.
Dogs are injured and sometimes killed while hunting. There have been many incidents of dogs being injured or killed when hunting a quarry animal across roads and railway lines.
Dogs used for illegal coursing and for terrier work, fox and badger baiting, are often injured. Injured dogs are often not treated by a qualified veterinary surgeon, in an attempt to hide the illegal nature of the dogs' use. The welfare of the dogs used in such illegal activities can be seriously compromised. Dogs used competitively in coursing events are often abandoned when they reach the end of their competitive lives.