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  • Feb 17th, 2005
  • Comments Off on Britain court dismisses appeal against hunting ban
The last chance to stop a ban on hunting with dogs in England and Wales coming into effect this week disappeared on Wednesday when pro-hunt campaigners lost a legal appeal. The ban, which outlaws a sport that began with the restoration of King Charles II in 1660, starts on Friday. Fox-hunting activists had tried to stop it by claiming that the law used to push it through parliament was invalid. But on Wednesday, the Court of Appeal, comprising three of Britain's top judges including Lord Woolf the Lord Chief Justice, dismissed the Countryside Alliance's challenge.

The ruling means rowdy pro-hunting protests could now become a regular feature of the run-up to May's expected election.

John Jackson, Chairman of the Countryside Alliance, said the organisation would try to appeal to the country's highest court, the Law Lords.

He expected over 260 hunts to meet on Saturday, adding that the alliance had issued guidelines to them on how to hunt within the law.

But the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said the ruling should mark an end to alliance's campaign.

"Having presented its arguments to Parliament and the courts, the pro-bloodsports Countryside Alliance must now accept the outcome of the democratic process - that hunting is cruel and unnecessary ..," RSPCA director of animal welfare promotion John Rolls said on the charity's Web site.

Although Prime Minister Tony Blair has never shown any enthusiasm to take on the fox-hunting fraternity, he had made banning the sport - on grounds of cruelty - part of his 1997 election manifesto.

But such were the passions whipped up by the issue that legislation was frequently delayed, with hunt supporters staging huge demonstrations in support of what they say is their way of life and opponents clamouring for an end to a sport they regard as barbaric.

Eventually, the government rammed the ban through a sharply divided parliament last November with the rarely used 1949 Parliament Act, which the hunters claim is flawed.

Copyright Reuters, 2005


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