The hunting bans have been a disaster for wild animal welfare

, 8 November 2023

This is the headline finding of Rural Wrongs: Hunting and the Unintended Consequences of Bad Law by Charlie Pye-Smith. The book describes the findings of the first major investigation into the animal welfare and conservation effects of the bans on hunting with dogs.

Over a period of two years the Rural Wrongs project has investigated what has happened to the species that were previously hunted. The conclusions are stark and depressing. Instead of making life better for the fox, brown hare and red deer, the exact opposite has occurred. They are now being killed in greater numbers. There is now more suffering, not less.

Published by the RS Surtees Society, Rural Wrongs is based on the testimony of people at the sharp end of countryside management –  farmers, gamekeepers, conservationists, hunters, scientists. It tells the story of how the 2004 Hunting Act in England and Wales, and its equivalent in Scotland, have failed.

The animal rights organisations who spent tens of millions of pounds campaigning for a ban now argue that the laws are not strict enough. The Labour Party is threatening, if it comes to power, to introduce new measures which would even outlaw trail hunting. Rural Wrongs argues that this would not only be deeply illiberal, but would make matters worse still for the quarry species.

This is not just a story of political incompetence and unremitting ecological gloom. The book also suggests how the current legislation could be replaced by a law which will effectively protect wild animals from unnecessary suffering and cruelty, and at the same time help to create a healthier countryside and a less censorious attitude towards a cultural minority .

A summary of the findings was presented on 25^th October at a meeting hosted by Baroness Mallalieu in the House of Lords. The main findings were described by Jim Barrington, who had travelled round the country with Charlie Pye-Smith, author of Rural Wrongs. Speakers also included the journalist Lord (Charles) Moore, who wrote the foreword for Rural Wrongs, master and huntsman Claire Bellamy, Wiltshire farmer Joe Collingborn and Charlie Pye-Smith. The book launch took place the same evening at the Farmers Club.

“Rural Wrongs is the first serious work of its kind. It contains a wealth of good evidence, but it is not a dry work of reference. It is a vivid and heartfelt tale about what happens to animal and human landscapes when people meddle with them for the wrong reasons. It should serve as a handbook for all those seeking to show why bad law must be replaced by rules that truly address animal welfare.”

Charles Moore

 

Copies can be obtained from the RS Surtees Society: http://www.rssurtees.com/product/ruralwrongs/

Book launch: The Facts of Rural Life

London, 29 June 2015

The Facts of Rural Life was launched last week at the Farmers Club in London. Among those attending were Members of Parliament and Peers, including five former ministers, as well as scientists, journalists, country vets and representatives of a range of organisations involved in nature conservation, land management, animal welfare and field sports. [read full article]

Is this the future of conservation?

London, 22 May 2015

In the harsh environment of northern Kenya, communities struggle with frequent droughts, poor health care, sparse or irregular government services and the threats posed by cattle rustling and ivory poaching. Ethnic rivalries dating back many centuries continue to disturb peace and undermine development. However, all this is beginning to change, thanks to a new movement based on community conservation. [read full article]

On field sports, death and moderation

Rutundu, Mt Kenya, 18 February 2015

We had come to Rutundu, some 10,200 ft above sea level on the northern flanks of Mt Kenya, to enjoy the mountain scenery and the pleasure of staying in log cabins where wood fires and hurricane lamps were the sole source of heat and light. We had also come to fish, and as soon as dawn broke on our first morning Jo Harrison – a serious fisherwoman with a trout stream of her own in Hampshire – and I clambered down a steep gorge in the company of Cosmas, one of the Rutundu staff. [read full article]

Bested by bats

Hoby, Leicestershire, 12 November 2014

The authors of the Book of Leviticus were under the impression that bats were birds, and listed them alongside hawks, owls, ravens and herons as being unclean, or an “abomination” in the words of the King James Bible: as such, they were not to be eaten (11: 13–19). Modern churchgoers know that bats are mammals, not birds, but many would agree that they belong among the unclean. [read full article]

A tale of invasive species

London, 5 September 2014

This time last year I wrote a blog about a fungal disease which is killing plane trees along the Canal du Midi in the South of France. Some 4000 dead or dying trees, most planted in the mid-19th century, had already been felled. Since then, many more trees have been taken down and lengthy stretches of the canal are now treeless. [read full article]

What’s good for the grouse is good for the curlew….

Coverdale, Yorkshire, 24 June 2014

“When we arrived in Coverdale in 1983, the in-bye land was like a billiard table and the heather on the moors was rank and scraggy,” explained Stephen Mawle as we watched a pair of grouse and their chicks feeding among the young heather and bilberry. In those days there were over 3000 breeding ewes here and Coverhead Farm was heavily overgrazed. [read full article]

So what’s the problem?

London, 17 April 2014

There is scarcely an acre of Britain which is truly wild. Farming, forestry, hunting, water extraction and urbanisation have all had a profound effect on our flora and fauna. Some of our top predators, such as lynx, wolf and brown bear, have been lost; many other species have been introduced, frequently with disastrous consequences for livestock, crops and indigenous wildlife. [read full article]

Waiting for the migrants

Capestang, France, 18 March 2014

The dawn chorus in Capestang has been a disappointment this week, even though the weather has been unseasonably warm and almost summer-like. At daybreak, little yellow serins twitter feverishly in the upper branches of the ancient black poplar in the ravine at the foot of the garden. [read full article]

Moving with the tide

London, 24 January 2014

On Wednesday, during a hearing of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on the winter floods, Paul Leinster of the Environment Agency told MPs that vulnerable stretches of coast could be abandoned to the sea. The process, which goes under the dreary name of managed realignment, would change the shape of Britain – with thrilling consequences. [read full article]

Kites and cleanliness

Kigali, Rwanda, 11 November 2013

Late one afternoon, some 35 years ago, Richard North and I walked through the gates of St Anthony’s monastery in Egypt’s Eastern Desert. Among the cowled monks we eventually found one who spoke English. Richard explained that he was writing a book about monastic life, Fools for God. I was retracing a journey I had made in the mid-1970s, a story told in the The Other Nile. [read full article]

What’s happened to our flycatchers?

Wa, Ghana, 3 October 2013

We spent this morning at a farmers’ meeting in a village in Upper West Region, then had a late lunch in Wa – cane-rat stew for my two companions, palm-nut soup for myself – before heading back to Tamale. It was a long journey, much of it on a rough dirt road that’s being upgraded by Chinese contractors. At this time of year the countryside is lush green, the ripening maize head high, the cowpeas and groundnuts ready for harvest. [read full article]

Tearing the heart out of the Midi

Capestang, France, 17 August 2013

I have talked to half-Amerindian peasants in Brazil whose forests were being felled, mostly against their will, for high-value timber. I have wandered among the smoking ruins of forests in Sumatra, set alight by companies who wanted to plant lucrative oil palm. I have spent time in Cameroon interviewing Baka pygmies about the impact of illegal logging, which was leading not just to the loss of trees and wildlife but the hunter-gatherer way of life. [read full article]