On the scent of change

"A 700-YEAR-OLD tradition which will not stop." This was the rallying call from hunters who gathered for Avon Vale Hunt's first outing on Saturday since the ban on hunting with dogs came into force.

More than 500 supporters and 118 defiant riders gathered at Monks Park, Neston to cheer speaker after speaker.

For many it was an emotional day as the ban, which many believed would never come into force, finally arrived.

The day began early for kennel-huntsman Malcolm Scobie, 37.

Up at dawn he had selected the hounds and prepared the truck to take them to the meet.

He had few doubts what the ban would mean.

"There is my house which hunting pays for. That will go. My colleague who grooms the hounds lives above them in the flat. That will be taken away. My friend who repairs the fences will be gone and he has a wife and two kids," he said.

"That is what it will mean to us. Hunting is a way of life and not just a job. This will hit every part of the countryside.

"I look after these hounds every day. It's a labour of love.

"It was very ironic on the last day before the ban. We did not catch a fox but there was one 200 yards away from the kennels when I came back. I see it as a good sign for the future.

"Foxes can be a problem but they are not at the moment because they are managed.

"The biggest hang up is that it has nothing to do with fox welfare. A pack of foxhounds will catch weak foxes or if they are injured having been hit by a car or in a fight.

"A good healthy fox will get away unless it is unlucky.

"I have done this job for 21 years. I have been provided with a small wage which for me is adequate, but I will lose my income and the roof over my head.

"It is not a job like working in WH Smith where I can move on to Woolworth. This is a way of life."

Alan Day is up at 4am most hunt mornings to prepare the land the hunt will cover, sometimes not stopping until 8.30pm.

He said: "We do it because we love it. I was born into the job and my dad did this.

"I have not slept properly in the last few months since they announced they were going to ban it.

"There is an enormous amount of people involved in hunting. My wife and my 18-year-old son ride with the hunt as well as me."

Builder Simon Cloake, 36, helps him every hunt day without payment.

"I don't hunt myself but the rest of my family do," he said. "My wife and son hunt and I have been at hunts since I was a child when my parents took me. The ban has been passed by people who really don't know anything about it."

Paul Coward, regional recruiter for Wessex for the Countryside Alliance, said they were prepared to go to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to repeal the act.

"It's a disgraceful act but it's not the end of fox hunting," he said.

"This amount of people shows the strength of feeling in the country. This is just one of 250 meets.

"We are not going to sit back. We will hunt and stick by the law."

The Rev Rex Hancock who hunts, said he had been asked to go along and bless the animals.

He said: "I believe that, as a hunting man, we must operate under the law but grace is much superior to the law.

"I don't think we should condemn one sport and condone another. We will continue to operate, continue to be sportsmen and continue to hunt the best we can under the law.

"We will hunt in the future and our children after us."

Author Estelle Holloway, who has written a number of books on hunting, said huntspeople loved animals and described the situation as a new Battle of Britain. "If you love animals you support hunting because it supports animals and the environment," she said.

District commissioner for the Avon Vale Hunt, Clare Bromfield, who on Saturday sold out of badges condemning Prime Minister Tony Blair, said hunting was a social activity loved by many.

"I used to be taken to the Avon Vale in a van when I was three-months-old. My daughter was meant to be out today but her horse went lame. My mother, 75, also hunts."

Farmer Colin Richardson, from Keevil, said: "We have been allowed to control the fox.

"It's a way of life for generations. I cannot go out at night with a gun because the public now wants the right to roam."

Lord MacLaurin was another who believed hunting was a great countryside pursuit.

He said: "To invoke the Parliament Act for something like this is an abuse of power.

"Hunting is part of our heritage that has been going on for many years. There is a great cross-section that follow it."

North Wiltshire MP James Gray, whose son was hunting, said he would have loved to have joined him.

In a rallying call to the crowd he said: "I say today, cry havoc and let loose the Avon Vale."

Reporter HUGO TILNEY joined the anti-hunt lobby at the Avon Vale Hunt to find out why they will do all they can to make sure the hunting ban is enforced

NOT far from the crowds of hunt supporters gathered at Neston on Saturday, a small group of anti-hunt protesters, their faces covered, shook their heads in dismay at the melee of horses, hounds, red jackets and tweed.

One expressed their feelings. "I just can't understand how people can get pleasure out of watching live creatures getting ripped apart. There's lots of people here today but I'm sure that in a short time people will look back on this and think how on earth did that go on for so long?"

None of the anti-hunt group wanted to be named and the bandanas tied across their faces showed that many of them didn't even want to be recognised.

"We're afraid of reprisals for sure, we don't want them to know who we are," one said. He alleged that the night before the hunt the group had the tyres of their Land Rover slashed and the windscreen smashed so that it couldn't been used at the meet.

The group, who are part of the Hunt Saboteurs' organisation, had 14 members. Flanked by police officers, they stood in an adjoining field to hunt supporters, separated by fences.

As the hunt set off they began to move, breaking into a run as they passed by the hundreds of hunt supporters.

Their spokesman said: "We're here to make sure that they're not doing anything they shouldn't be and to protect the welfare of the animals. It's not just the foxes but also hares and deer that get driven out as well."

Most admitted they didn't know each other before the meet. "Each of us probably knew one or two other people so we got in touch and then we all just met up."

There were other groups of antis in the area as well as monitors from the Wiltshire League Against Cruel Sports, and police estimated the total number of protesters on the day at between 20 and 30.

The antis spokesman said: "I don't think our position has changed since the law changed. We were never doing anything illegal and we're still here to look after the welfare of the animals."

Another said: "It's just such a barbaric thing to do and they don't seem to have advanced much since the Romans. All the blood smearing and stuff is like witchcraft, it's just wrong.

"There's lots of young kids being brought up with the idea that hunting is normal and acceptable and that is very worrying."

The antis followed along with the hunt keeping an eye on the hounds and from time to time tensions rose as antis and supporters crossed paths. There were angry words and taunts as antis tried to cross land owned by farmers, but before a confrontation was allowed to develop the antis were moved on by police.

The day passed without any breach of the peace and no arrests were made, but one allegation was made to police that an anti-hunt follower sprayed a hound in the face to put it off the scent. This is being investigated.

The police have received no other complaints and other than a few traffic jams in the narrow country lanes the day passed off without incident.

But despite the ban on hunting there was only a slight air of victory among the antis. They felt the ban didn't go far enough.

The spokesman said: "We're not very happy with the ban because it still doesn't protect the animals. It's a step in the right direction but it's not very good.

"Foxes should be a protected species with the same rights as domestic animals.

"We'll continue to come out and keep an eye on what's going on whenever we are able.

"Whatever, we'll still be here."

Peter Parks, a member of the Wiltshire League Against Cruel Sports, described Saturday's meet as a blatant attempt to flout the law.

Mr Parks, who has been a member of the league for 20 years and lives in north Wiltshire, said: "The day was a bit farcical. They put on a great show for all the people and the press to start with but as far as I'm concerned, it was a normal day's hunting."

Mr Park and another member of the league watched the hunt from the country lanes and where possible filmed the proceedings.

He said: "They led a line around a field right in front of where everyone was watching and then let the dogs go about 30 seconds later.

"After that it just went straight back to a normal day's hunting and as far as I'm concerned it was a blatant attempt to flout the law."

Mr Parks said it was impossible to see how effective the change in law had been after Saturday's hunt.

"It was just a big stage show," he said. "It's only in the coming weeks that we'll get a real flavour of what's going to happen.

"We weren't in the right place at the right time except on one occasion when a hunt thug got a cut off walking stick with a great knuckle on the end and started going towards some antis.

"It was quite obvious what he was going to use it for."

"I've got absolutely nothing against drag hunting. I just wish the Avon Vale Hunt would use common sense and recognise that the sport has had it's time in the same way that bear baiting has.

"At the end of the day they've shown that they're only interested in the kill."