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British Hare-Hunting Event Turns Violent
LONDON (AP) - An animal rights protest at a major British hare-hunting event turned violent Monday when spectators pelted the demonstrators with a dismembered hare, bottles, firecrackers and chunks of earth, but nobody was injured, police said. Police on horseback stopped about 20 of the hundreds of jeering spectators who tried to charge the protesters, authorities said. Three people were arrested.The clash was the result of a controversial ban on hunting with dogs that comes into effect later this week. Organizers of the Waterloo Cup had moved the hare-coursing event forward several weeks to ensure it would take place before the ban comes into effect. Hare-coursing involves two dogs chasing a hare and will become illegal under the new Hunting Act, which takes effect Friday. Animal rights groups have welcomed the move, saying hunting is unacceptably cruel. But hunters argue that the prey die quickly, and that the sport is vital to the culture and economy of rural Britain. Hunting supporters have mounted a legal challenge to the ban. Last month they lost the first round of their bid to overturn the ban and a decision on the second round is pending. The Waterloo Cup, held at Altcar in northwest England over three days, was founded in 1836 and used to attract daily crowds of 75,000. Some 10,000 spectators are expected to attend this year's event, which usually takes place in late February. ``This is not a day of jubilation for us,'' Tony Moore, founder of Fight Against Animal Cruelty In Europe, said of the violent protest. ``I just feel bad that it has taken so long to achieve this ban. We shouldn't have to be here today.''
Simon Hart, chief executive of pro-hunting group the Countryside Alliance, insisted that this year's Waterloo Cup would not be the last. ``I am absolutely, 100 percent certain that the Waterloo Cup will take place in some form in 2006,'' Hart said. ``It may not be here, it may not even be in this country, and it may be in a different form, but the Waterloo Cup will live on. We will return.'' Posted by: Steve White 2005-02-15 |
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