Yayyyy

[Sputty]

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/nation...ban041118.html

Britain bans fox hunt
Last Updated Thu, 18 Nov 2004 22:22:02 EST
LONDON - Britain's House of Commons outlawed fox hunting Thursday, using a controversial law to override opposition from the House of Lords, which backed the blood sport to the end.

Royal assent to the measure from Queen Elizabeth � whose family has been known to enjoy the traditional hunt � was expected within hours. This would clear the way for the bill to become law and ban hunting from February 2005.


A member of the Badsworth and Bramham Hunt out at Bramham Park, Wetherby, west Yorkshire Nov. 18, 2004.
(AP Photo)

BACKGROUND: History of the fox hunt

While it will still be legal to shoot foxes, the legislation bans all hunting with hounds, including the pursuit of rabbits and deer.

Members of Parliament in the House of Commons invoked the rarely used 1949 Parliament Act to pass the ban before the end of the current parliamentary session on Thursday.

Hunting supporters immediately vowed to actively defy the ban, and challenge the legality of the legislation in court.

John Jackson, chairman of the pro-hunting Countryside Alliance, said hunters would not cooperate with a ban.

"True civil disobedience is now on the horizon," he vowed.

The Commons passed the ban late Thursday after the House of Lords had earlier again rejected a compromise amendment designed to delay the law to 2006.


FROM JULY 1, 2003: British MPs vote to ban fox hunting

In rejecting two Labour amendments that would have delayed the ban to July 2006 or 2007, some Lords argued the compromises were designed only to avoid public protests over the issue ahead of an election expected as early as May.

Prime Minister Tony Blair had favoured a deal proposed in the Commons on Wednesday to allow licensed hunting of foxes to continue. But a majority of his party's members of parliament wanted to see it banned outright and as soon as possible.

The long-running debate over fox hunting, where hounds rip apart the prey while riders follow the pack on horseback, has divided Britain like few others in the recent past.

Detractors call it barbaric and feudal, while supporters claim it is a tradition that supports tens of thousands of jobs in Britain's rural economy.

An estimated 400,000 pro-hunt demonstrators turned up in London for a rally in 2002. Smaller protests have taken place sporadically since, with some protesters disrupting parliament in the summer.


FROM SEPT. 22, 2002: Huge rally defends U.K. fox hunting

Supporters argue the ban represents an attempt by London's Labour-leaning "luvvies" to end a rural way of life they do not understand out of misplaced sentimentality.

The fight over the hunt is now likely to enter the courts.

The pro-hunt Countryside Alliance has informed Attorney General Lord Goldsmith it would challenge the legality of the 1949 Parliament Act in court. It has never been approved by the Lords

The alliance also plans to take the issue to the European Court of Human Rights, a move seen by experts as more promising.

Written by CBC News Online staff