Following reports that a ban on hunting will be introduced but will be delayed
for two years, Shropshire Animal Action says the following:

"We welcome the proposed legislation banning hunting, however we find the two
year delay unacceptable when we have been waiting so long for a ban. Every year
hundreds of thousands of wild animals die, pets are killed, gardens invdaded and
communities are terrorised by foxhunts. Since 1997 hunts have known that their
days are numbered and should have been winding down. Despite the deaths of
three activists since the 1970s and the hosipitalisation of countless more, the
only legislation introduced has been against activists. A ban on hunting is now
not so much a demand, as a duty. Ministers' plans to phase in a ban over two
years is another example of a government letting down the compassionate majority
of this country. While the news of a ban is welcome, the two year delay will
cost another half a million animals their lives. Hunts will have plenty of time
to look for work and re-home their hounds when they are not chasing foxes all
over the countryside. As a result, Shropshire Animal Action call on the
Government to see sense and end the killing of foxes now. We call on the people
of Shropshire to attend the Boxing Day gathering of people against foxhunting in
Newport and urge everyone to write to their prospective Labour candidates
ensuring them that they will not be voting Labour unless the hunting ban is on
the statute books by election day."




From http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Hunting ban faces two-year delay


Are hunts' days numbered?
A new effort to ban fox hunting will come before MPs in days - but even if
it gets the go-ahead it will not become law for two years, ministers say.
The delay will be seen as an attempt to avoid a ban becoming an election
issue.

But rural affairs minister Alun Michael said it was to give people
involved in hunting "adequate time" to re-home dogs and "refocus" business
activities.

Peers have defeated past bills, but this time the government would use the
Parliament Act to force it into law.

'Pressing problem'

In a written response to a parliamentary question, Mr Michael said: "This
period will give those involved in hunting more than adequate time to cease the
activities which are to be banned".

He said this could involve "the dispersal or re-homing of dogs, and for
refocusing any business activities on alternatives like drag-hunting or disposal
of fallen stock if they wish to do so."

Hare-coursing would be banned three months after the bill was passed, Mr
Michael said.

"Violence and intimidation associated with illegal coursing events is a
real and pressing problem in many areas of the countryside today," he said.

"There can be no justification for delaying further in giving the police
the powers they need to crack down on the criminals involved."

The chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, Douglas Batchelor,
said that the return of the bill to the Commons was "the high point of our
80-year campaign to expose fox hunting as a cruel sport and to get it banned".

But he said that the League "simply cannot see any good reason" for a
delay on implementation of a ban.

"MPs have made the moral decision that hunting with dogs is unacceptable
in a modern society, and this decision should come into effect as soon as
possible," he said.

Opposition

Conservative environment spokesman Tim Yeo said that his party was
determined to reverse any hunting ban.

"If Labour railroad through a bill to ban hunting using the Parliament
Act, we will introduce a Government Bill to reverse Labour's ban," Mr Yeo said.

"All Conservatives front and back bench will be allowed a free vote in
both houses. The vast majority of Conservatives believe a ban is an infringement
of civil liberties and damaging to the countryside."

A spokesman for the pro-hunting Countryside Alliance said it made no
difference if there was a delay before the bill's implementation.

"The government has chosen the path of prejudice and spite - the reaction
it unleashes will be entirely its own responsibility," said Alliance chief
executive Simon Hart.

Labour MP Michael Foster, who introduced a private members bill aimed at
banning hunting in November 1997, said he was delighted by the news which he
said was the "great prize that people have worked on for decades".

The move to delay the ban will be put to Parliament in a separate motion
and the deferral depends on MPs and peers backing it.



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