We, the signatories of this petition, demand that all forms of hunting with dogs is banned from all land owned/controlled by Alton Town Council. The town council should also ban any attempt to promote hunting with dogs on ATC land, in particular the Boxing Day hunt assembly on The Butts.
In 21st Century, this is a cruel and totally unnecessary activity that should be a relic of the same barbaric past of which bear-baiting was a part.
Nationwide, there are numerous witnessed accounts of foxes being bred for hunting, hounds being mal-treated and put to sleep once their useful days are over, horses being abused (e.g. used as weapons against peaceful protests by hunt saboteurs), family pets being killed by hounds and people and their dogs being attacked by hounds. Whilst this has not been witnessed nor documented in respect of The Hampshire Hunt, the potential for this is evident.
Full details of hunts' abhorrent activities can be found on the websites and Facebook pages of the Hunt Saboteurs' Association and The Hunt Investigation Team. Both organisations are effectively doing what the police should be, respectively, preventing illegal hunting and gathering evidence for prosecutions against illegal hunts and their abuse of foxes, hounds and horses.
It now apprears hunts' hounds are likely to be a (major?) factor in the spread of bovine TB !
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2988743/bovine_tb_found_in_foxhounds_and_nothing_to_do_with_badgers_now_what.html
This petition is for people living in/around Alton, Hampshire, UK.
