Kent (The county of the White Horse) is our home county.

Am trying to get more on this – will update if successful.

YUP –

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/disturbing-video-shows-fox-attack-by-hounds-280458/

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/pack-of-hounds-appear-to-savage-fox-in-illegal-hunt/ar-AA16poRZ

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/footage-appears-show-pack-hounds-173146677.html

Regards Mark

Police in England arrest six men over suspected illegal fox hunting

Six men have been arrested and 22 dogs seized in police raids over suspected illegal fox hunts across several English counties.

The men were arrested in dawn raids on Wednesday by police from Kent, Norfolk, Sussex, and Thames Valley, in one of the UK’s largest ever fox hunting investigations.

RSPCA officers who took part in the raids seized 10 dogs near Canterbury and Folkestone in Kent, three near Farringdon in Oxfordshire, and nine near Wisbech, Norfolk.

Police in England arrest six men over suspected illegal fox hunting (msn.com)

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Regards Mark

The decision comes ahead of Boxing Day, which is traditionally the biggest day in the hunting calendar.

Photo – Getty Images

Animal rights activists left furious after Defence Secretary Ben Wallace strips them of their right to monitor hunts on MoD land ahead of traditional Boxing Day meets

To read the full article, click here:

Animal rights actvists’ fury as Defence Secretary strips their right to monitor hunts on MoD land | Daily Mail Online

With the state of the Conservative Party / Government in relation to (a massive lack of) public support at this current time, one would think they would be attempting to get more public on their side; not lowering their backing even more which this will obviously do. The Boxing Day village / town parades and hunt around the country is the main day of the year when hunts attempt to show their worth to the public. Worth that means nothing – just blood lust fanatics who rip animals to shreds trying justify their existence. Throughout the country, masses of anti hunt supporters and sabs give up part of their Christmas Boxing Day holiday to line villages and towns in opposition to what the hunt is about – killing animals for fun. There are obvious clashes as a result – it can turn nasty and often does.

Click to watch on Youtube

Regards Mark

Above – Ben Wallace – Photo PA – Defence Secretary Ben Wallace wrote to the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) earlier this month to inform them he was ripping up a long-standing agreement.

This is what hunt monitors attempt to prevent – Photo Mark WAV.

Dogs used in hunts are often subjected to horrific conditions

Animal rights campaigners in Spain held demonstrations across multiple cities on October 16 to shine a light on hunting dogs being exempt from new animal welfare laws.

The Spanish government recently lodged a further amendment to its Animal Protection Law, which sought to keep hunting dog breeds exempt from abuse protection.

Barcelona-based animal rights group Paw Portal called the move “a shame,” considering this is the same government that made so many positive steps to help animals previously.

“Do dogs feel less if they are in the hands of hunters than in the hands of people who do not have killing animals as a hobby?” the group asked in a Facebook post. “Indeed: they feel less affection, less attention and less respect.”

Protests were organized in Almeria, Cadiz, and Valencia, amongst others, to encourage people to sign a petition launched by Spanish political party the Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals.

Paw Portal supported efforts and informed its followers about the underlying issues of speciesism and cruelty. “[This is] a reminder that the Spanish government wants to exclude hunting dog breeds from the new animal rights laws,” it wrote. 

“This will allow the biggest perpetrators of the worst animal abuse to continue without facing any consequences!”

Abuse faced by working dogs

Paw Portal claims that dogs used to hunt are kept in abhorrent conditions. Many are reported to be kept on short chains for the majority of their lives, while housed in unsanitary feces-filled kennels, and denied access to clean drinking water.

At the end of hunting season, due to the undomesticated nature of the animals, thousands face abandonment or death at the hands of their owners. Hanging, burning, and being discarded into wells to drown are listed as some common “disposal” techniques.

Under the Animal Protection Law, all of these activities would be deemed illegal and punishable by a prison sentence. However, the government is looking to remove all protection from hunting breeds, apparently on the grounds of “cultural interest.” 

In its petition, the Animalist Party states that: “This was [also] denounced by the Intergroup of the European Parliament on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals in a letter sent to the Government, in which it indicated that the treatment given in our country to animals used as hunting tools is in contradiction with European values.”

The party demands that no species is exempt from protection by the law. It also asks that none be used as “tools” for human profit, as it equates to exploitation, a term it also connects to another Spanish tradition, bull fighting.

Spain cracks down on animal abuse 

On August 1, the Spanish government updated its Animal Protection Law to reduce cruelty, abandonment, and the unnecessary killing of animals. The amendment was brought in by the minister of social rights, Ione Belarra.

“Animal abuse going unpunished and aberrant practices such as cockfighting or shooting pigeons are over,” she said at the time. “Gone are the days when hundreds of thousands of animals were abandoned every year in our country.”

Murcia Today reported that key changes included a zero sacrifice policy, with no animal being euthanized except for in extreme medical circumstances, and a tougher stance on perpetrators of animal abuse. The Penal Code was changed to increase custodial sentences from a minimum of 24 to 36 months for first offenses. 

Zoos and marine parks are also required to transform into wildlife rehabilitation centers.

Following on from the amendments, more animal rights progress was made in December when animals became classified as sentient beings in Spain. Only the far-right political party Vox opposed the move, which saw domestic companions and wild species alike no longer considered as “objects” by law.

Regards Mark

Living in their own excrement or forced to drink fetid water in frozen kennels: this is the grim life for Spain’s hunting dogs, according to an investigation by animal rights groups published on Thursday.

Video footage taken in 29 kennels across the country showed the unkempt dogs chained up and left by their owners.

As Spain’s Animal Welfare Law was poised to come into law, AnimaNaturalis and CAS International published their findings on Thursday, urging the government to include hunting dogs in the legislation.

The ruling Socialist government wants to introduce an amendment which will exclude these dogs from the legislation on the grounds that the existing law gives them sufficient protection.

Investigators claimed at the end of the hunting season in February, between 50,000 and 80,000 of these dogs were abandoned or were even hanged when they were no longer of any use.

Aida Gascón, director of AnimaNaturalis, said: “What we see (from our investigation) are not isolated cases or (cases that) contravene legislation. It is the daily and legal reality in which hunting dogs live their miserable lives.

“That hunting groups and some politicians continue to insist that these animals are sufficiently protected by current legislation is not only a fallacy, but negligence. All dogs suffer equally, regardless of the use made of them.”

As part of the campaign by the animal rights activists, a red bus toured Madrid this week with a picture of a hanged dog next to a picture of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

Spain’s government argues the legislation relates to pets not working animals like hunting dogs, police animals, farm livestock or fighting bulls.

It means pets are considered sentient beings which means they can no longer be seized, mortgaged, abandoned, mistreated or removed from one of their owners in the case of a separation or divorce.

The government’s proposed change to the law has proved politically divisive, with some allies of the minority left-wing coalition vowing to oppose the Socialists’ proposed change to the law.

Íñigo Errejón, of the Más País, a left-wing party, said his party would not back the amendment if the government excluded hunting dogs.

“The PSOE has made a mistake and has to rectify it because hunting dogs must have the same rights as the rest,” he told Servimedia news agency.

Emiliano García-Page, regional Socialist president in Castilla la Mancha in central Spain, where hunting is a popular pastime, supported the government’s stance.

He claimed only Spain’s 17 regional authorities had the legal right to regulate animal welfare.

García-Page dismissed as “cheap demagoguery” the idea that hunting was only for “rich millionaires”.

The Spanish Royal Hunting Federation (RFEC) was approached for a comment by Euronews but did not reply.

In a recent statement, the RFEC said the government’s proposed amendment was “very positive”.

The organisation also disputed claims by animal rights groups about the number of hunting dogs which are abandoned.

Regards Mark

https://uk.style.yahoo.com/spains-hunting-dogs-mistreated-kennels-080544775.html

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