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Cambridge man ridicules hunt ban
THE
GOVERNMENT’S case for banning deer hunting outright has been
branded "scientifically illiterate" by the Cambridge
academic who produced evidence that the sport is cruel.
In 1997 a contentious report by Prof Patrick Bateson for the National
Trust found "clear-cut" evidence that deer hunting with
hounds was cruel.
But Prof Bateson has rejected the Government's conclusion that
the evidence against deer hunting, based on his research, was
"incontrovertible". He called for further scientific
tests to establish how much deer suffer before a case is made
for a ban.
Prof Bateson, who is Provost of King's College and a zoologist,
has written to Alun Michael, the minister responsible for the
hunting Bill. He called on the Government to put forward a "political
solution" that took into account the economic effect of a
ban on hunt areas.
His devastating assessment of Mr Michael's argument was seized
on by the Countryside Alliance as a potentially fatal blow to
the anti-hunting case.
The Hunting Bill will ban deer hunting and hare coursing outright.
Fox hunting will be allowed to continue but under strict regulation.
In an e-mail last month to Douglas Wise, a pro-hunting vet, Prof
Bateson wrote: "Only somebody who is scientifically illiterate
could argue that evidence from a new area of research was incontrovertible."
In his letter to Mr Michael, Prof Bateson said: "A political
solution should involve some kind of cost-benefit analysis."
James Gray, the shadow countryside minister, tabled an amendment
to have the clause in the legislation banning deer hunting dropped.
The Countryside Alliance said: "Prof Bateson has destroyed
any pretence that Alun Michael's decision to single out deer hunting
for a ban is logical or defensible." |
