Published: 30/12/2009 00:00 - Updated: 20/03/2010 19:49

Tories will lose my vote over hunt move

from Jean Alger

Etwall

AS A CONSERVATIVE voter I am writing to express my disgust at David Cameronʼs plan to overturn the current ban on hunting (Mail, Thursday, December 24).

David Cameron is an avid killer of wildlife and is even known as ‘one shot Dave’ as he boasts he can kill two stags with one bullet.

Before the ban, stags were chased and killed for no other reason than to hang their antlers on a wall.

Hinds and often their calves would also be chased by dogs but have less stamina than the males, which makes them an easier target, so more are killed.

Despite the constant claim of the hunters that they are controlling numbers of pests by chasing foxes with a pack of dogs, once caught after a long chase they suffer bites and tears before suffering what must be an agonising death.

Watched by the hunters, the corpse is then fed to the dogs and the blood of the fox is smeared onto the face of hunt supporters (usually children) who have just seen their first kill.

Neither the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs nor the National Farmers’ Union see the fox to be a significant threat to agriculture.

Aside from the obvious cruelty, in an average hunting season 15,000 foxes are killed, three humans are accidentally killed, 6,000 dogs and pups are killed, vets’ fees for the horses amount to £15 million, and policing costs paid by the taxpayer amount to £1 million.

Is it right or legal for David Cameron (above) to overturn the ban when he knows the majority of the electorate made it clear over many years that they wanted a total ban on hunting? Myself and many more I know will never again vote for the Conservatives if he does.