Introduction to Pro-Hunt Violence

Oh, what a pretty picture the hunting fraternity paint for us all ever Boxing Day! Horses and riders done up to the nines, partaking of liberal amounts of bonhomie, in liquid and verbal form, patting each other on the back for the sterling work they have done in avoiding (nearly) the wrath of the law. Why, they surely could have just fallen out of an old-fashioned Christmas card! But, hey, wait a minute. Where were all those noisy quad bikes that are so much the norm of modern-day hunting? Where was that special breed of local lout with their terriers? Where were the foul-mouthed followers, the faces of the children blooded for the "fun" of being at their first kill?

The real face of hunting is not the pretty picture it would have us believe. Show the face of an exhausted deer, its eyes staring, its tongue hanging out, its breath rasping, its body quivering, not knowing where to turn to get away from its persecutors. Show the face of the bloodthirsty mob who will joyfully chase this animal, oblivious to its suffering.

That is the true face of hunting - not very pretty at all.

On 15th September 2004 MPs voted to ban the barbaric bloodsport of hunting with hounds. At long last democracy had triumphed.

Scenes from recent Countryside Alliance pro-hunt protests

Unable to accept democracy pro-hunt extremists invaded the Commons chamber and outside parliament a Countryside Alliance protest once again turned violent injuring sixty police officers. Protestors were reported to have let off flares and thrown bottles at police lines; one policeman told of how he saw colleagues getting attacked and how the mob were attempting to throw crush barriers into their lines.

These scenes of mob violence by hunt supporters were of little shock to anti-hunt campaigners who have been subjected to violence at hunts on a regular basis. After all what would you expect of people who are overpoweringly attracted by the violence inherent in chasing and killing animals and who feel righteous in threatening to break the law in order to carry on doing it?

Typically much of the media tried to make those responsible for the violence appear as the victims and having long served up the deceitful an endless stream of self-serving pro-hunt PR. However the hunters' true nature was revealed again just a few days later at a Labour Party conference.

On 28th September 2004 a dead horse, a cow and two calves were dumped in central Brighton alongside Countryside Alliance pro-hunt banners. The local newspaper, The Argus, branded it 'sickening' and reported several local residents as saying: 'It's not only disgusting. It is a health hazard. Children run around here all day. If that's there sort of mentality ... I hope they put a full ban on hunting. This was a cheap way to get publicity. If the protesters think this is a way of getting support, they have clearly lost the plot .. I'm just sickened by it'.

In the same month the Independent reported that the increasingly militant action against MPs was being orchestrated from the very top of the Countryside Alliance. Pro-hunt extremists are known to have drawn up a hit-list of anti-hunt campaigners and MPs. An anonymous letter published in an underground countryman's magazine recently urged hunters to "choose targets directly connected with the anti-hunting repressive apparatus", it refers to property, vehicles, communications and computer hacking.

50,000 hunters have signed a declaration saying that they will defy the ban on hunting.

This site looks at hunt groups, their supporters, and the pro-hunt media who are leading the campaign against democracy.