Animal welfare charity calls for an end to hunting

League Against Cruel Sports Northern Ireland wants to see Northern Ireland brought into line with the rest of the UK and ban hunting with dogs

 Animal Welfare charity, the League Against Cruel Sports is calling for Northern Ireland to get in line with the rest of the UK and ban hunting with dogs, making this Boxing Day the last festive façade to see wild animals legally hunted with dogs for sport.

Hunting with dogs was banned in Scotland in 2002 through the Protection of Wild Mammals Act and in England and Wales in 2005 under the Hunting Act. Northern Ireland is now the only nation within the UK that has not introduced a complete ban on fox and stag hunting.

The charity Claims to have the support of the majority of the Northern Irish public. With latest Ipsos MORI opinion polling showing that less than 1 in 20 supported deer hunting remaining legal, less than 1 in 8 supported hare hunting remaining legal and less than 1 in 5 supported foxhunting remaining legal.

While 2 out of 3 people believed it was already illegal to hunt mammals with dogs in Northern Ireland.

Boxing Day is traditionally the biggest event in the hunting calendar,.  

Janice Watt from League Against Cruel Sports Northern Ireland called on representatives to ban the sport.  She said:  “Northern Ireland leads the way with new stringent jail sentences for dog fighting, however still lags behind on this cruel and barbaric practice, which like dog fighting should have no place in our society. Evidence has shown that hunting is cruel and inflicts severe physical and mental stress and injury on the victims. There is no quick and easy death.

“No doubt like every year, there will be posed photos of hunts and their supporters out at Boxing Day meets, however what the images will not show is the animal cruelty and havoc that hunts cause - in communities and to farmers trespassing on their land claiming to be helping them with ‘pest control’.”