Letter to MP asking them to take action against staghunting

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Dear

Stag hunting is still happening in Devon and Somerset. Mounted stag hunters with hunt dogs, foot followers, people on quad bikes all take part, tormenting and terrifying the stag for hours and across large areas, until they are done with him. When he finally collapses, they shoot him dead.

There are only three stag hunts left in the country. They hunt for pleasure, taking the stag’s antlers as a prize. When they have killed him, they cut out the stag’s heart and give it to the landowner, and carve up his body for food.

For the most part, they hunt openly, and when (if) challenged, they cite loopholes within the Hunting Act 2004 to justify their cruel activity. They are, however, rarely challenged by any authority.

The Hunting Act is not doing its jog. Stag hunts use two dogs in relay to chase the stags. They do this because the loopholes state that the hunting must not  “involve the use of more than two dogs”. However, they use two dogs at a time, and then when they are tired, they use two more dogs, and so on, meaning they can chase the stag for hours. Clearly, this  is not within the spirit of the law, which was meant to outlaw the cruel pursuit of wild mammals by dogs as a sport. The loopholes have other conditions attached, but the hunts gloss over them too.

Research published in 1997 by Professor Bateman, who was commissioned by the National Trust to study the effects hunting has on deer, concluded that the mental and physical trauma they suffer is horrific. The National Trust banned stag hunting on their land several years before the Hunting Act came into force.

I am deeply saddened that in this day and age we are still allowing our wildlife to be treated this way and there is seemingly no protection for the hounds who are forced to hunt them. It is without a doubt that the hunting laws need to change, and trophy hunting needs to stop. As one of your constituents I am asking you to take a stand against this cruelty and help protect these animals being subjected to abuse.

Yours faithfully