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| Britain | |
| British Hare-Hunting Event Turns Violent | |
| 2005-02-15 | |
| LONDON (AP) - An animal rights protest at a major British hare-hunting event turned violent Monday when spectators pelted the demonstrators with a dismembered hare, bottles, firecrackers and chunks of earth, but nobody was injured, police said. Police on horseback stopped about 20 of the hundreds of jeering spectators who tried to charge the protesters, authorities said. Three people were arrested. The clash was the result of a controversial ban on hunting with dogs that comes into effect later this week. Organizers of the Waterloo Cup had moved the hare-coursing event forward several weeks to ensure it would take place before the ban comes into effect. Hare-coursing involves two dogs chasing a hare and will become illegal under the new Hunting Act, which takes effect Friday. Animal rights groups have welcomed the move, saying hunting is unacceptably cruel. But hunters argue that the prey die quickly, and that the sport is vital to the culture and economy of rural Britain. Hunting supporters have mounted a legal challenge to the ban. Last month they lost the first round of their bid to overturn the ban and a decision on the second round is pending. The Waterloo Cup, held at Altcar in northwest England over three days, was founded in 1836 and used to attract daily crowds of 75,000. Some 10,000 spectators are expected to attend this year's event, which usually takes place in late February. ``This is not a day of jubilation for us,'' Tony Moore, founder of Fight Against Animal Cruelty In Europe, said of the violent protest. ``I just feel bad that it has taken so long to achieve this ban. We shouldn't have to be here today.''
Simon Hart, chief executive of pro-hunting group the Countryside Alliance, insisted that this year's Waterloo Cup would not be the last. ``I am absolutely, 100 percent certain that the Waterloo Cup will take place in some form in 2006,'' Hart said. ``It may not be here, it may not even be in this country, and it may be in a different form, but the Waterloo Cup will live on. We will return.'' | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #22 In 10,000 years the protesters dirty old polyester coats will still be filling up landfills. My leather coat will be long composted. Same for fur coats. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-02-15 11:54:31 PM |
| #21 So did they ban hare hunting altogether or only when it involves utilizing canines? |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2005-02-15 12:25:42 PM |
| #20 I'd love to get fluffy's take on it all. He looks like the sort who'd never think twice about taking fellow members of his species or others to task whether for good reason or just for the fun of it. Surely he is not above biting ears. Is that wrong? |
| Posted by: tkat 2005-02-15 12:14:36 PM |
| #19 5 to 6 cases of the plague show up on the average every year in New Mexico. [Unofficial State Motto: Home of Flea, Land of the Plague]. Those infected have a better than 50-50 chance of survival 'if' it is recognized fast enough and heavily treated, though recovery sometimes is not full. Recognition by medical personnel who see it more often than those who haven't for hundreds of years, helps in the speeding of that process. The state gets transfers from out of state medical facilites that are too slow to act. All too often it is in the later phases of the disease and the patient does not recover. While it is often contracted in rural areas, it does appear with greater frequency among pets of homeowner on the edges of metro areas like Albuquerque. |
| Posted by: Uneagum Wheremp9442 2005-02-15 12:01:56 PM |
| #18 Bubonic Plague is supposed to be easily cured with antibiotics. Still, there is the discomfort factor of the buboes, and the panic factor at the very name of The Plague, so perhaps the idiots will learn something. On the third hand, those most likely to be exposed to the disease are those in the countryside, not the city dwellers. Definitely a mixed curse the English have got there! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-02-15 11:49:32 AM |
| #17 That is a mean-eyed little bugger,.com. |
| Posted by: raptor 2005-02-15 11:00:06 AM |
| #16 Did someone mention my name? I have a bot, you know... it watches you wankers, just in case my honor is challenged. Back off, bub. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-02-15 10:55:01 AM |
| #15 Fluffy Bunnies!!? Oh, the humanity! |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-02-15 10:45:23 AM |
| #14 You know of course that The Plague remains in the soil. Now the idiots are going to have a population explosion of vectors that'll will reintroduce modern man to the wonders of the 14th Century. When the Bambi mentalitiy meets the harsh reality of lessons learned the hard way. |
| Posted by: Uneagum Wheremp9442 2005-02-15 10:22:38 AM |
| #13 Them Boars are alot more aggressive than havalinas! |
| Posted by: outide 2005-02-15 10:06:54 AM |
| #12 I don't personaly see any value in Trophy Hunting, but if that's what someone else likes to do and wants to that's their descision. I dated a woman here in East Tennessee who killed a wild boar with a Bowie Knife. That was hunting! Those things are awful mean and I wouldn't face off with one with nothing but a Bowie Knife. She has since moved to Utah so look out Utahans. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2005-02-15 9:53:22 AM |
| #11 TGA,help me out here.I understand Boar hunting is very popular in Germany,if these creatures are anything like Javalina(wild pigs native to American S.west),them's be some mean ass critters. |
| Posted by: raptor 2005-02-15 9:13:56 AM |
| #10 TGA,help me out here.I understand Boar hunting is very popular in Germany,if these creatures are anything like Javalina(wild pigs native to American S.west),them's be some mean ass critters. |
| Posted by: raptor 2005-02-15 9:13:56 AM |
| #9 i don't find it too smart too throw things at ppl with weapons |
| Posted by: Thraing Hupoluper1864 2005-02-15 8:32:47 AM |
| #8 An animal rights protest at a major British hare-hunting event turned violent Monday when spectators pelted the demonstrators with a dismembered hare... Shades of "Jude the Obscure", if they threw the right parts. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-02-15 7:53:05 AM |
| #7 The Netherlands? Belgium? This is a broken window issue. Of itself it is unimportant. But as an indicator of what is happening to the moral health of the UK, it is indicative of worse to come. And the UK, as much as Caliphornia, has been a leading indicator of what will happen in the U. S. What this says is that the loons are gaining power and will turn it into an asylum. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-02-15 7:27:18 AM |
| #6 SPOD I am about as rabidly antisocialist as they come, but this is not a Leftist issue worth bothering about. We should worry about Iran, Iraq, the MSM systematically lying, the gross politicization of science, Europe's irrational anti-americanism (I'm not an american), etc, etc. regards |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-02-15 6:33:02 AM |
| #5 So it's not classist socialist Labor party members getting even with the evil "rich" land owning country folk /"nobility"? Could have fooled me. All I have seen or read points to that being the case. Yes the UK nanny state qualifies as Socailism to me. Blair has been lucky I believe in retaing enough of the Thatcher and Major reforms to keep the economic engine going. He still has a socialist agenda and makes no bones about it. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-02-15 6:18:35 AM |
| #4 The UK is the most urbanized country in the world except microstates like Singapore. This is urbanites imposing their views on rural people. It has little or nothing to do with socialism. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-02-15 5:59:52 AM |
| #3 The UK is after all a socialist country. The Politicians are proud of the fact. That depends entirely on where you draw the line. I'm guessing you think anywhere with nationalised anything and tax banding is 'socialist'. Of course socialist politicians from socialist parties like Blair will claim to be advancing socialism - that doesn't mean its a complete or irreversible process. We couldn't possibly have the fourth largest economy in the world, with a population our size, without having a resilient capitalistic culture. What ridiculous negativity. Every European country except France have very weak hunting cultures. That's nonsense. Hunting on the continent is more popular than on this side of the channel - in France and elsewhere - where in different countries everything from songbirds to seals to stray dogs are considered fair game. And in parts of the UK hunting remains a major activity - the Highland economy relies on it. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-02-15 5:41:15 AM |
| #2 This is Transnational Socialism. This is one the many faces of it. "animal rights", the ban on capital punishment and all rest the PC crap are in support of Transnational Socialism. The UK is after all a socialist country. The Politicians are proud of the fact. Hunting is for the rich and landed nobility (even if this is pure bunk) The kind of people the Labor party faithful love to hate. Sorry UK folk I don't hold out any hope for your "hunting" rights coming back to you. Every European country except France have very weak hunting cultures. You will have to do your hunting across the channel. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-02-15 5:26:40 AM |
| #1 The anti-hunt protesters really are today's Little Hitlers. Their determination to force others to bend to their will and their absolute conviction in their own moral authority is quite awesome to behold. They represent the inching roll on the steamroller of PC-ism. They're simply not something you can resist with arguments about individual liberties and personal choice - suich concepts are utterly alien to them. Fishing will be the next sport to go under unless they're stopped - they've said as much. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-02-15 5:07:38 AM |