‘No Return to Cruelty’

Press release:

Steven Campkin, Green Party prospective parliamentary candidate for Ashford,
pledged “no return to cruelty” as he backed an IFAW in Action campaign to
protect the ban on the cruel sport of hunting with dogs.

Five years after the Hunting Act came into force in England and Wales, IFAW in
Action, a part of the global International Fund for Animal Welfare movement, has
published a new report ‘No Return to Cruelty’, and released a three-minute
compilation of video footage showing examples of hunting cruelty before the ban.

The new report and footage were sent to MPs and prospective parliamentary
candidates, urging them to remember the horrific cruelty inflicted on foxes,
deer, hares and mink before the introduction of the Hunting Act and to work to
protect the ban.

Steven said: “Hunting for so called 'sport' is barbaric and repulsive and has no
place in a civilised society. I fully support the hunting ban but would like to
see it better enforced, and would go further and ban any activity that exploits
animals. The Hunting Act was introduced because the majority of the British
public found it abhorrent that animals could be chased and ripped apart for fun.”

Conservative Party leader David Cameron has pledged to allow MPs a free vote on
whether to repeal the Act if he becomes Prime Minister. This is despite the fact
that a return to hunting would be completely out of step with the views of the
majority of the British public, including his own party.

Polling by Ipsos MORI* in September 2009 found strong cross-party support for
maintaining the ban, including almost twice as many intending Conservative
supporters backing the Act as those that want it repealed (62% vs 33%). Overall,
75% of the British public do not want fox hunting to be made legal again.

Robbie Marsland, UK Director of IFAW in Action, said: “As a nation of animal
lovers, the majority of the British public have long opposed animal cruelty and
do not want the archaic practice of hunting with dogs to return to our
countryside. We urge everyone to visit our website and remember why this vital
ban was introduced.”

To read the No Return to Cruelty report and view the footage visit w where you
can also email your other local parliamentary candidates and ask where they
stand on the issue.

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