Fox hunters pack out English fields despite ban threat

The ABC's summary paragraph was : "Fox hunting enthusiasts are out in force for the Boxing Day hunt, the biggest day in the blood sport's calendar, hoping that the British Government's determination to ban the pastime will falter."

"biggest day in the blood sport's calendar"

I like my title better

Fox hunting enthusiasts are out in force for the Boxing Day hunt, the biggest day in the blood sport's calendar, hoping that the British Government's determination to ban the pastime will falter.

The Countryside Alliance, an umbrella group which defends rural interests in Britain, said more than 275,000 people had attended hunts around the country, despite government plans to ban the traditionally aristocratic activity.

Anti-hunt campaigners, some waving banners proclaiming "out-foxed, outdated, out-voted", conceded that they were outnumbered but said they would not stop until hunting had been banned.

"We are losing patience with the Government," anti-hunt lobby spokeswoman Penny Little said, which believes hunting foxes with hounds is cruel and unnecessary.

"We won't accept anything less than a ban - it could still happen but if it does not then the consequences will be very serious indeed," Ms Little said.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's determination to pass legislation banning fox hunting in England has been frustrated by the House of Lords, which has voted several times against the move.

Although the issue was not mentioned in forthcoming legislation, some observers believe Mr Blair is preparing to force through the ban by invoking the Parliament Act and overriding opinion in the House of Lords.

If the Government does follow this course of action, it would mean that Friday's Boxing Day hunt was the penultimate one before legislation to outlaw hunting takes effect.

"Protesters have been saying that this will be our last hunt for the last six or seven years and we are still here," Richard de Prez said, master-in-charge of the Cheshire Forest Hunt in west England.

A poll commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare in November claimed 76 per cent of people in Britain want to make hunting with dogs illegal.

But the Countryside Alliance remained defiant that the proposed ban would not come in to force.

"Tony Blair has far more important issues to be discussing and debating in Parliament than fox-hunting," Alliance spokesman James Bates said.

Countryside activists say the sport is not cruel, that it is an efficient way of keeping down fox populations, and is an intrinsic part of social life in rural Britain.