Scotland bans fox hunting
By Kerstin Gehmlich
LONDON (Reuters) - The Scottish Parliament has voted to ban fox hunting, making Scotland the first part of Britain to ban the centuries-old sport.
Members of the regional assembly voted 83 to 36, with five abstentions, to ban the sport, in which felt-coated hunters on horseback charge across fields chasing foxes with a pack of hounds. The decision had been widely expected.
The Protection of Wild Mammals bill calling for an end to hunts with dogs, a sport enjoyed by Prince Charles, was introduced by Labour parliamentarian Mike Watson in March 2000.
The issue has pitted the hunting lobby against animal rights groups, who demonstrated outside the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh.
Some protesters dressed up as giant rabbits and foxes to make their point.
"We are very pleased, the verdict is overwhelming. It is a watertight bill...which is no longer allowing people to set one animal against another for sport," said Phyllis Campbell-McCrae, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Simon Hart, director of the Campaign for Hunting, said before the decision that the bill was an act of political vandalism.
"This is not an anti-cruelty bill, but an anti-human bill," he said. "It will inflict a lot of pain on a minority of Scottish people who have chosen hunting as a sport or a business."
Pro-hunting groups said that because of legal loopholes it might still be possible for hunting with dogs to take place if the dogs were muzzled and they did not kill any foxes.
Now that Scotland has passed the bill, there could be extra pressure on the government in Westminster to ban hunting south of the border, said Dave Ward, a spokesperson for the League against Cruel Sports in London.
"If Scotland bans hunting, we can say: What's so special about the Scottish foxes that they get protection? And what is so special about hunters in England and Wales, that they can go on?" he said.
Attempts to ban hunting in England and Wales have faced the resistance of peers in the House of Lords and strong protests from countryside lobbies in the past.
Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1997 promised to hold a vote in the House of Commons on a ban on hunting with hounds. But time to pass the legislation ran out when Blair called a general election in June last year.
By Kerstin Gehmlich
LONDON (Reuters) - The Scottish Parliament has voted to ban fox hunting, making Scotland the first part of Britain to ban the centuries-old sport.
Members of the regional assembly voted 83 to 36, with five abstentions, to ban the sport, in which felt-coated hunters on horseback charge across fields chasing foxes with a pack of hounds. The decision had been widely expected.
The Protection of Wild Mammals bill calling for an end to hunts with dogs, a sport enjoyed by Prince Charles, was introduced by Labour parliamentarian Mike Watson in March 2000.
The issue has pitted the hunting lobby against animal rights groups, who demonstrated outside the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh.
Some protesters dressed up as giant rabbits and foxes to make their point.
"We are very pleased, the verdict is overwhelming. It is a watertight bill...which is no longer allowing people to set one animal against another for sport," said Phyllis Campbell-McCrae, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Simon Hart, director of the Campaign for Hunting, said before the decision that the bill was an act of political vandalism.
"This is not an anti-cruelty bill, but an anti-human bill," he said. "It will inflict a lot of pain on a minority of Scottish people who have chosen hunting as a sport or a business."
Pro-hunting groups said that because of legal loopholes it might still be possible for hunting with dogs to take place if the dogs were muzzled and they did not kill any foxes.
Now that Scotland has passed the bill, there could be extra pressure on the government in Westminster to ban hunting south of the border, said Dave Ward, a spokesperson for the League against Cruel Sports in London.
"If Scotland bans hunting, we can say: What's so special about the Scottish foxes that they get protection? And what is so special about hunters in England and Wales, that they can go on?" he said.
Attempts to ban hunting in England and Wales have faced the resistance of peers in the House of Lords and strong protests from countryside lobbies in the past.
Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1997 promised to hold a vote in the House of Commons on a ban on hunting with hounds. But time to pass the legislation ran out when Blair called a general election in June last year.