Fox Hunters' New Strategy: We're an Ethnic Minority

Group in UK says their hunts should be protected by law
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 12, 2024 11:24 AM CDT
Fox Hunters' Argument: We're an Ethnic Minority
Stock photo.   (Getty/doubtful neddy)

A fox hunting group in the UK is floating a legal argument to protect their hunts that doesn't exactly square with the common image of fox hunters of yore: The idea is that they're an ethnic minority, reports the Guardian. Ed Swales, leader of the pro-hunt group Hunting Kind, is making the case that fox hunters fit the criteria as stipulated in the UK Equality Act of 2010. "We qualify, undoubtedly 10 out of 10," he said on the Fieldsports Channel podcast. Among other things, fox hunters are discriminated against in terms of jobs and take abuse on social media, he says. Swales blames the "animal rights extremist movement" for creating a bias against fox hunts, in which riders on horseback follow a pack of dogs over fields in search of their prey.

In response to the query "show me an example of people who have lost the plot," the "hunt lobby never fail to disappoint," responds former Labour minister Michael Foster. The Dorset Eye has a similar take in an editorial. "In a country where cultural diversity is celebrated, where ethnic minorities fight for recognition and equality, Swales and his merry band of tweed-clad comrades have somehow convinced themselves that the age-old sport of chasing down a terrified fox with a pack of hounds is a cultural heritage under threat," it reads. "The logical gymnastics required to arrive at this conclusion are truly Olympic in scale." (More fox hunting stories.)

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