Appeal from Farmers' organisation on opening up hunt kennels to inspection

national | environment | press release Saturday January 30, 2010 23:52 by Anti-Foxhunting

No Exemptions for Hunt Kennels under new puppy farm law!

Farmers Against Foxhunting and Trespass (FAFT), representing thousands of farmers all over Ireland concerned about the havoc wrought by hunts on our land (ripping up crops, scattering livestock, knocking fences, tearing domestic pets asunder in farmyards) wish it to be known that we wholeheartedly support Minister Gormley's inclusion of hunt kennels in the proposed puppy farms legislation. We, the REAL voice of rural Ireland, say: foxhunting is anti-farmer and should be banned completely...

Message delivered to all members of the Dail and Senate:

Re. Proposed inclusion of hunt kennels in new Dog Breeding Establishments legislation

Farmers Against Foxhunting and Trespass (FAFT) would like to make known our total support for the full and comprehensive registration of hunt kennels under the Dog Breeding Establishments legislation currently before the Oireachtas.

We believe it is absolutely vital from the point of view of safeguarding the interests of farmers in every part of Ireland that the hunt kennels are made accountable for their conduct.

We have listened for the past few weeks to the persistent whinging of the hunts…to dog and pack owners complaining about the prospect of such accountability.

We hope that every Dail Deputy and Senator is aware of the destructive potential of dogs at loose in the countryside.

Have you ever seen a dog attack a flock of sheep? Have you ever witnessed a full pack of hounds, or strays from a pack, attack sheep or other livestock?

Farm animals have been ripped asunder by them. Farmers have had to cope with the sight of their animals struggling in agony, their entrails trailing the ground…lambs trying to draw milk from their dead or dying mothers. Heifers have aborted due to hunt incursions…having been chased around fields by the hounds in broad daylight.

We farmers have endured more of this rural vandalism and emotional heartache from the hunts than we can tolerate. One farmer we know of is owed E32,000 for the obliteration of his entire Pedigree Herd of sheep by hunt hounds.

The “work” performed by the pack that day on his farm was far removed from the pretty picture image of the hunt that some politicians have been painting in their cosy Senate chamber over the past week. This man has not yet been paid for the devastating loss he suffered. Other farmers have had to receive extensive counselling after similar ordeals.

Out of control foxhounds have also killed cats and other household pets in farmyards, often in full view of children including toddlers, and country children have had to flee in terror for their safety from marauding hounds.

This is public knowledge, and the experience of many farmers in every corner of our land. You will be aware of the high profile case recently in which it was revealed that a woman was badly injured when what media reports described as “a flying dog” hit her car. The dog was in fact a hound, part of an out of control pack in the charge of a hunt pursuing its “sport”.

You have listened to the views of the hunts. Will you now listen to us? And will you reflect on the fact that there is a very good reason for all those thousands of Hunt Ban notices that appear in the provincial media?

It may be acceptable to some people that the keeping and breeding of dangerous and aggressive dogs should not be subject to any form of independent control or supervision…that the government should just allow the present appalling situation to continue whereby hunts and the kennels where the hounds are bred are self-regulated and unaccountable to anyone but themselves.

We in FAFT believe strongly that Minister Gormley’s proposed legislation is not just welcome, but long overdue. The arrogant and unreasonable desire of the hunts to be exempted from the requirement to register must be set against the consequences of granted them such an outrageous and totally unwarranted exemption: An exemption would mean a continuation of the destruction and mayhem that hunt hounds are causing in the countryside to the detriment of farmers.

Hounds straying onto land have been shot or apprehended by landowners. The microchipping of hunt hounds would greatly assist farmers in determining to which hunt any such straying hounds belong.

To put this issue in perspective: The hunts want an exemption for their kennels. Yet we farmers have for many decades, and increasingly in recent years, been subject to a vast range of legally-binding regulations.

Any Dail Deputy or Senator who thinks that hunts are being “victimised” should consider the farmer’s position. Since 1950 we have had to comply with TB testing laws that oblige us to test all our cattle, cows, calves…etc, and all females have to be blood tested for Brucolosus.

This is very expensive for us. We have to pay vets, Department officials, and other relevant people, and provide all the facilities required for handling the animals. The farmer must provide free of charge his own labour and all necessary assistance whenever the Department decides.

He has to purchase and tag every animal in his herd. He is required to keep accurate records of all numbers of animals and these must at all times be open to inspection. Any mistake, any oversight on his part, is penalised severely.

He may suffer deductions in the EU (compensation for world price) payments. On top of all that there are regulations that govern housing and milk production to ensure healthy and wholesome food.

Given this level of accountability for us farmers, what are the hunts complaining about?

Under no circumstances should hunt kennels be exempted from the provisions of the new legislation. FAFT welcomes Minister’s Gormley initiative and we also support the proposed ban on stag hunting, which has long been a menace to farmers and road users.

We hope that Minister Gormley will not be swayed by the baseless and pathetic arguments put forward by the hunting lobby in favour of self-regulation.

We say: people who behave the way hunts have towards the farming community CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO REGULATE THEIR KENNELS.

Please take our message on board: No exemption for the hunts!

Thanking you for your attention,

Philip P. Lynch,
Chairman,
Farmers Against Foxhunting and Trespass (FAFT)