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Scottish
‘hunting ban’ as appeal block fails
HUNTING WITH hounds was outlawed in Scotland from last Friday
after the eleventh-hour failure of countryside campaigners to
overturn the legislation.
The group of individuals and hunt organisations vowed that they
would continue their fight after failing to convince Scotland's
top civil court that anti-fox hunting legislation passed by
the Scottish Parliament infringed their human rights.
Lord Nimmo Smith, at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, dismissed
their call for a judicial review and agreed with the Scottish
Executive that compensation should not be paid to rural workers
who lost their jobs.
Allan Murray, director of the Scottish Countryside Alliance,
said he was disappointed by the ruling but not surprised. The
alliance was now considering an appeal against the decision,
and Mr Murray promised that pro-hunt campaigners would continue
to argue their case "in every court of the land".
Mr Murray has vowed that the Alliance fight the decision "in
every court of the land" to protect individual rights over
"political dogma". Mr Murray says the legislation
is putting the livelihoods of many people "at risk",
while confusion remains as to what exactly was outlawed and
what remains legal under the Act.
"This legislation will shatter livelihoods and businesses
in rural Scotland, yet the court appears to have merely rubber-stamped
the Act passed by the Scottish Parliament. This is the opening
skirmish in a very long campaign."
Lord Nimmo Smith also rejected a call for a second hearing at
which the petitioners - including a farmer, a master of foxhounds
and a landowner - could give evidence in person.
In his 122-page written judgment, he said the courts were not
in a position to over-rule legislation passed by Parliament.
Some of Scotland's ten hunts are expected to continue to offer
a service to farmers, using hounds to flush out foxes to be
shot by waiting guns.
But Trevor Adams, 43, master of fox hounds to the Duke of Buccleuch's
Hunt - who was one of the petitioners - said he was now facing
the prospect of losing his job and having to kill his hounds.
"My main concern is not for myself or my family but for
my hounds. Some of these hounds have blood lines going back
to 1860 and a lot more thought has gone into their breeding
than most of the politicians who passed this Act."
The ruling was welcomed by the Scottish Campaign Against Hunting
With Dogs, which said the legislation had outlawed a "barbaric
sport".
Mike Hobday, of the League Against Cruel Sports, said Westminster
should follow Scotland's lead.
The Scottish Countryside Alliance is also planning to take its
protest to the European Court of Human Rights if further legal
protests in the UK falter.
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