Video aims to counter 'false propaganda'

SUPPORTERS of fox hunting have launched a campaign to counter what they call the 'welter of false propaganda and lies' put out by their opponents.

The Campaign for Hunting said its goal was to 'take hunting off the political agenda'.

It has produced a 14-minute video presented by the author Ludovic Kennedy which argues that hunting with hounds is not cruel, and is the best way to control Britain's fox population.

The campaign said its research found that less than 2 per cent of Britain's urban population had any experience or real understanding of hunting and its role.

'This widespread ignorance is being exploited by animal rights activists to promote a parliamentary ban,' the campaign said.

Its chairman, Bill Andrewes, said: 'We have a responsibility to ensure that many more people know why we hunt, understand its importance to the farming community, and recognise that it is an acceptable and entirely legitimate part of country life.'

The group said that although the Labour MP Kevin McNamara's private member's Bill to ban hunting was defeated last year there was still the danger of a new Bill being drawn up. A ban would risk as many as 33,000 jobs, the group added.

The League Against Cruel Sports said it welcomed the video because it kept the issue in the public eye. Its wildlife officer, John Bryant, said: 'Their film destroys their own propaganda because it shows a fox being disem bowelled by a pack of hounds when they have always said a fox dies from a single bite from a hound.'