Countryside Alliance and LACS on trail hunting in Somerset
Date of alert:
Thursday, 26 May 2022
Crime Ref:
Force:
Avon & Somerset Constabulary
Somerset council is the focus of hunt and anti-hunt arguments today.
Today (Friday, May 27), the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) is set to meet outside County Hall in Taunton to launch a petition which calls on Somerset County Council to end trail hunting on land that it owns and manages.
However, animal welfare campaigner Jim Barrington has accused the League of attempting to ‘waste valuable council time’.
He is a former director of the League and is now a consultant for the Countryside Alliance.
Jim said: "LACS has a history of spreading mistruths about the reality of trail hunting.
"Trail hunting is a legal activity, which involves the laying of an artificial scent for hounds to follow.
"Somerset, like elsewhere across the country, is facing a cost of living crisis and clearly all attention should be on alleviating the anxiety that many in the county are feeling.
“LACS are either totally oblivious to the concept of reading the room, or they are deliberately attempting to waste valuable council time.
"This petition has nothing to do with animal welfare, but everything to do with anti-rural prejudice.”
