Should hunters be protected by the Equality Act?

In a week when violent thugs attacked a peaceful vigil in a grieving community in Southport, it was going to take something truly ridiculous to out-absurd the far right.

It turns out that the hunting lobby can match the EDL for false victimhood narratives.

As reported by Protect the Wild, a pro-wildlife advocacy group, a gathering of hunters recently devised a new strategy to save their cruel pastime.

This included a plan to “claim that hunters are a minority ethnic group, and as such need to be protected under the Equality Act 2010”.

Wait… what?!

Hunting with dogs never stopped

In the UK, the pro-hunt lobby has tried everything to preserve its right to kill with impunity.

After the Hunting Act 2004 outlawed hunting wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales, the industry re-branded its cruelty as ‘trail hunting’. This meaningless title masks the reality that chasing (and killing) foxes and other wild lives never really stopped despite the new law.

A series of high-profile exposés, filmed by hunt saboteurs, have put huntsmen back in the public eye.

With Labour returned to power in last month’s general election, pressure is firmly on the new government to introduce more stringent measures to stop a privileged few wreaking havoc across the UK countryside.

A shameful new ploy from the hunt lobbies

As Protect the Wild reports, Hunting Kind, a pro-hunt lobby group, recently agreed a strategy to present hunters as a “minority group”.

Doing so, the lobby claims, would give hunters protections under the Equality Act 2010. According to reports, the strategy is “the culmination of just over 3 years work in the legal space”.

The nine protected characteristics under the UK’s Equality Act are:

Sexual orientation
Age
Disability
Gender reassignment
Marriage and civil partnership
Pregnancy and maternity
Race
Religion or belief
Sex

Quite how the hunters think their wish to set a pack of dogs on innocent animals makes them worthy of protection beggars belief.

True protection for UK wildlife

In contrast, Protect the Wild‘s proposed Hunting of Mammals Bill, developed in collaboration with Advocates for Animals, is the result of clear, compassionate thinking.

A person commits an offence if the person intentionally or
recklessly hunts a wild mammal using a dog

from the Hunting of Mammals Bill (proposed)

The British public overwhelming sides with the wild lives and not the hunters. Trying to use the Equality Act to continue their abhorrent hobby will not end well. ★

Vegan Poetry