Pro-hunt followers greeted anti-hunt protesters with their usual threats and violence that are so commonplace that it is taken for granted now. On Christmas Day alone we received three threats from hunt supporters promising that we would be attacked at Rivington.

One female anti-hunt protester was pushed to the ground by a hunt supporter at the Boxing Day demonstration in Cheshire. Another was threatened even though a policeman was next to her. In Lancashire one man drove straight through a crowd of anti-hunt protesters hitting one person. At the same demo a young girl dressed in a fox costume was punched by a hunt supporter. All four incidents were witnessed by the police who did nothing.

The two demos however left the hunts knowing that their pastime is unacceptable in this day and age. In Cheshire protestors outnumbered hunters, and given that protestors had given up their Boxing Day to attend when they could quite easily have chosen to do something enjoyable this was a superb effort.

Over 100 protestors were out in force at Rivington Hall Barn to campaign against the Holcombe Hunt. The hare hunters and their followers were very annoyed to see 'Ban The Hunt' signs all over Rivington. One of the best anti-hunt turn outs for a number of years reduced the hunt's parade to an utter shambles. The day was capped by the great news that the hunt didn't actually hunt, probably down to recent heavy rain, instead they simply went for a ride. A good day for protestors, an even better day for wildlife.

A leading anti-bloodsports group Protect Our Wild Animals [POWA] believes that the Countryside Alliance has grossly overstated the number of hunt supporters attending Boxing Day Meets, in a further attempt to delude the public and decision-makers as to the strength of support for hunting.

Spokesman Alan Kirby said 'The figure of 275,000 claimed and widely reported as fact simply cannot be supported by independent reports from local newspapers. Analysing these, we reckon the true figure of actual supporters was at most 100,000.' [Full Story]