Hunts galore - despite ban

COUNTRY folk turned out in their hundreds of thousands yesterday (Boxing Day) to express their anger on the second anniversary of the ban on fox hunting.

Despite the ban, more than 320 hunts held their traditional "meets", with an estimated 320,000 riders attracting crowds of well-wishers running into millions.

North Yorkshire hunts made up some of the highest numbers in England, with the Pendle and Craven gathering at Gargrave, near Skipton, and other meets by the Farndale, Goathland, York and Ainsty and Middleton hunts.

The Hunting with Dogs Act, forced through Parliament by left wing Labour MPs amid huge controversy, came into force on Boxing Day 2005 despite the fact that many opposition on MPs, lawyers and chief constables said it was virtually unenforceable.

This has proved largely to be true. Only one huntsman has ever been found guilty of breaking the law, and that case was dismissed on appeal. And according to the Masters of Foxhounds Association, tens of thousands more people have taken up the sport, many of them women and children.