How times have changed on the hunting issue
IN 1964 The Citizen’s photographer was dispatched to Gloucester Cattle Market, which then stood off St Oswald’s Road on ground now occupied by Tesco, B&Q and neighbouring stores, to capture a first on film.
The Cotswold Vale Hunt had arranged to gather at the market. And as you can see from the picture a dozen or two of their members on horseback, complete with pack of hounds, milled among the Morris Minors, Vauxhall Vivas, a Hillman Husky in the foreground and an Austin A60 before clopping off in the direction of Sandhurst in search of a fox.
There were no hunt saboteurs. No placards were waved by those opposed to blood sports. In fact, The Citizen captioned the picture with words applauding this English tradition.
Many will recall that in Cheltenham hundreds gathered each Boxing Day morning to watch the Andoversford Hunt meet outside the Queens Hotel. Dressed in their brightly coloured jackets, the riders sipped from stirrup cups brought out to them by hotel waiters.
Then with a toot on the hunting horn, the master set off down the Prom with followers on horseback in his wake, hounds barking, hooves clattering and the whole spectacle looking like the lid of a chocolate box.
Public opinion changed in the decades that followed, and fox hunting became a politically charged issue. The Citizen and the Echo devoted a good deal of space to the question of whether hunting should be banned or allowed to continue, which aroused passions on both sides of the argument in the predominantly rural county of Gloucestershire.
Here’s a taste of the opinions voiced in February 2001 prior to a rally in London organised by the Countryside Alliance the following month.
An angler reported: “I’ll be on the march because I want to say to the Government that I don’t agree with banning an activity that one section of the population enjoys, just because another group of people don’t like it. This sort of legislation escalates and if hunting is banned, fishing could be next on the list.
“There’s a delicate balance about a river and its wildlife and we’ve seen how that can easily be upset. A river that’s fished is kept in good order. Stop fishing and rivers will go into decline.”
A farmer’s wife said: “I was brought up in the country and I’ve been a farmer’s wife for 20 years. Hunting and shooting – and I do both – are part of the balance of life in a rural community. They provide employment and they’re part of our social life, but they’re only pieces of the jigsaw.
“What the anti campaigners don’t understand is that if you take away a bit of the jigsaw, you destroy the overall picture. Our way of life could be brought to an end by people who don’t appreciate that. The Government doesn’t seem willing to look at the issue from both sides.”
Another farmer’s wife had a contrasting view.
“I won’t be going on this march because I don’t believe that farmers can afford to be seen linking arms with the field sports lobby.
“Those who say a threat to field sports is a threat to their way of life are, in my opinion, reacting hysterically and resisting the inevitable. My attitude is Don’t panic – change. “If you farm and you think that someone’s liberty to kill for fun is more important than your livelihood, then go on marching. If not, then think again.”
An anti-hunt farmer said: “I refuse to walk alongside people who cause cruelty and unnecessary suffering to our wildlife by hunting with dogs. If it is necessary to control any creature, then shooting must be the most humane method. I shoot pigeons for the pot myself when the numbers are causing damage to the crops. But I’m not convinced that it’s necessary to kill foxes anyway.
“We’ve possibly lost half a dozen chickens in the past ten years to foxes. That’s the total. And if you employ good husbandry by making sure the poultry are locked up securely at night, foxes aren’t a problem.
“Hunts people are always talking about their civil liberties. But what about our civil liberties? Why should we have to put up with the hunt terrifying our sheep, or coming through our property?”
The Hunting Act of 2004 banned hunting wild animals with dogs in England and Wales. It’s an issue that continues to raise hackles.