Brian May attends bloodhound meet

Outspoken animal rights campaigner Brian May has attended a bloodhound meet in the hope of promoting it as an ‘alternative’ to fox hunting.

Invite

The long haired guitarist of Queen fame was invited by hunt master Byron John to join the Three Counties Bloodhounds for a day of’clean boot’ hunting, where the hounds follow a human.

May wanted to promote it as a”clean and legal alternative” to fox hunting. “The countryside is a beautiful place, but it can also be a place of cruelty,” May toldWales Online. “If we can get rid of the cruelty then just imagine how much better it could be.”

Brian was reportedly asked if he wanted to join the hunt on horseback, but said it would be “pretty stupid” as he didn’t know how to ride. “I grew up in a very poor background. We didn’t have access to horses. My kids have learned, though.”

History

But Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, points out that bloodhounding has been around for a long time already. “We are sure a day out in the countryside did Dr May the world of good. Hunting the clean boot has a long history going back for many years before the Hunting Act. Bloodhounds obviously don’t have, and never have had, any role in wildlife management and the activity is entirely complementary to those forms of hunting that do.

“The Masters of Bloodhounds and Draghounds Association is an active member of the Council of Hunting Associations and plays a full role in the campaign to repeal the Hunting Act,” Bonner added.

Hunting

The Hunting Act 2004 came into force on 18 February 2005, but the legislation has often been described as ‘unworkable’. There are a number of exemptions to the law to allow for a certain type of wildlife management, for example the flushing out of foxes to be shot by guns or the permitted attendance of a bird of prey.

Many hunts switched to trail hunting, which is similar to drag hunting in that the hounds follow a trail set by a person. More than a decade after the ban, there are more than 170 registered foxhound packs active in England and Wales, which are required to adhere to the constraints of the law or face criminal prosecution.

However, hunt saboteurs remain active in monitoring hunts’ activity. There have been a number of court cases involving hunts since the ban was introduced, but only around 20 of these have led to a conviction in the past 11 seasons.

Outspoken

There was due to be a free vote on amendments to the Hunting Act in July of this year, but this had to be postponed after the Scottish National Party intervened.

Brian May is one of the most vocal opponents of hunting, and he founded the ‘Save Me Trust’ in 2010 to campaign against any sort of repeal of the ban. The rock star, who was appointed vice-president of the RSPCA in 2012, said hunting has “no place in Britain”.