No more Hunting with Dogs – Part 1

A Hunt on the loose in a field

The Countryside

I live in the countryside.  Not in a large town-like village with all the facilities but a tiny little village with a duck pond, where everyone knows each other.

I was born into the countryside.  Does that make me a real countryside person?  I think so. 

Compton Martin, Somerset

My mum was born and brought up in the city (Bristol is a whole 14 miles away).  She was born and raised there but has lived in the countryside for 18 years and brought some of her Bangladeshi values with her.

My dad was born in Merseyside, in what at that time was a small town in a rural location. When he was ten years old, they moved into a village near the North Yorkshire Moors before moving to a remote village on the Mendips in his late teens.  He witnessed The Mendip Hunt in action and this led him to go hunt sabbing at university.

Where I'm from - Compton Martin, Somerset

Does the fact that I have learnt most of my values from my parents mean that I am not a real country person?  No it does not.  Does my family have to have lived in the countryside uninterrupted for 5 generations for me to be a real countryside person? No, of course not.  That is like a countryside fascism. 

In fact, my grandfather came from rural Bangladesh and his family were farmers/landowners.  In the past they fished and caught birds with nets occasionally, but they never chased animals for fun.  Now the fish and the birds have gone.

The Times They Are A-Changin'

Our cities are changing, our countryside is changing and our society is changing.

Things change and sometimes people have to let go of their old customs, as the majority think they are no longer acceptable.

Gladiators fighting to the death

In Roman times, they thought it was acceptable and enjoyable to watch men fight to the death.

Do we think that is acceptable now?  No, we do not!

Illegal cock fighting

200 years ago, people used to think it was acceptable and enjoyable to watch cocks and dogs fight to the death.

Do we think that this is acceptable now?  No, we do not!

A bull finally being killed at the end of a bullfight by a matador

In Spain, there is a minority who think that it is acceptable and enjoyable to watch a man taunt a bull and fight with it until it is dead.

Do we, in the rest of Western Europe, think that it is acceptable now? No, we do not!

A member of a hunt enjoying the trophy of a fox killed by their hounds

There is a small section of our society, mainly those who are extremely privileged, that think that it is acceptable and enjoyable to have their huge pack of hounds chase a fox and maybe it’s cubs until it is exhausted, digging into it’s home, and letting their animals rip it apart while it is still alive. Like being hung drawn and quartered.

Do the rest of us, the vast majority of this country, countryside and town, think that this is acceptable now?  No, we do not!

This government want to change the law so that hunting animals with dogs is legal again.  My message to them:

Come Members of Parliament

Please heed the call

Don't stand in the doorway

Don't block up the hall 

For he that gets hurt 

Will be he who has stalled 

There's a battle outside 

And it is ragin'.

Our PM David Cameron, at a Hunt Meet

What can you do?

Please do everything you can to make sure that our government know that if they try to repeal the law, they will have a fight on with the 80% of the country who do not agree. 

Write to your MP using the following website - http://bit.ly/1JERayX


Petition the SNP to vote against the repeal - http://chn.ge/1MjHzfY

About the writer

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly

Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 13 year old young birder, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol, UK and blogs about birding and conservation from around the world. Wader conservation is important to her and she is Ambassador to the global wader initiative World Shorebird Day. She is looking forward to Mountain Gorilla trekking this summer in East Africa and to watching penguins in Antarctica in December, her 7th continent. She has recently been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter.