The recent publicity concerning the defection of former League Against Cruel Sports boss James Barrington to the Countryside Alliance has been accompanied by numerous disingenuous statements to the effect that many in the animal rights movement are little better than "religious fundamentalists who ignore the scientific evidence", which apparently shows that blood sports are not cruel, while completely ignoring the fact that "animal welfare is very close to the hearts of most hunting people".

Similar claptrap is used by the Countryside Alliance concerning the motivations behind the passing of the Hunting Act 2004.

If it's not ignorance of the facts then it must be some half-baked concept of class warfare, prejudice, bigotry, or if all else fails then it has to be revenge for the 1984/85 miners' strike. How much more of this nonsense are we supposed to swallow?

While honest enough to accept that the Hunting Act has totally failed to abolish blood sports and will be repealed when the Tories win the next election, I can also state with absolute truth (as a campaigner against stag hunting for 50 years) that my motives in working for a hunting ban, as well as the majority of people I have known throughout that time, were based on an abhorrence of cruelty and nothing more.

If a lesson in the caring credentials of the Countryside Alliance (or British Field Sports Society as it was pre-1997) with regard to its concern for animal welfare issues are needed then check out its track record on Parliamentary legislation over the last 40 years.

Every attempt to legislate on behalf of wild mammals in Britain has been hampered, weakened or blocked by blood sports supporters determined that no Act of Parliament, no matter what the issue, or how abstract the threat, should in any way impinge on their sporting interests.

Name any piece of proposed legislation (1968 Protection of Otters Bill, 1969 Conservation of Seals Bill, 1973 Protection of Badgers Bill, 1975 Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Bill, 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Bill, the various Deer Bills aimed at stopping deer poaching, 1996 Wild Mammals Protection Bill etc) and somewhere behind the scenes will be found the hand of blood sport interests, fronted by the BFSS/CA attempting to water down or neutralise its effectiveness.

These same people, who constantly try to convince us that they, and they alone, are the only ones who not only care about animals, but understand the issues, are also curiously absent on any animal or environmental issue that is not directly, or indirectly, related in some way to killing animals for sport.

In all my years of involvement with animal rights issues, encompassing opposition to such issues as the Canadian seal culls, international whaling, live exports, fur trade, cosmetic testing on animals, etc, I cannot remember a single instance of encountering any prominent hunting figure, nor saw any active opposition to the general issue of animal abuse.

So the next time a press story appears extolling the virtues of these victimised, self-styled 'rural freedom fighters', look a little deeper behind the facade and see who they really are.

IAN PEDLER

Bath Road

Paulton