The pro-hunt Countryside Alliance claims that 59% of people "want to keep hunting". Yet a poll conducted by MORI (December 2002) revealed that 80% of the British public consider all forms of hunting with dogs to be cruel. Not surprisingly the Countryside Alliance poll has received heavy criticism from independent marketing experts. Condemned for having "flawed logic, ambiguity and potentially biased wording", the experts recommend that its results should be "discounted as measures of public opinion". They explain the 59% figure was derived from an ambiguous question. Its three given options included the term "under regulation", which could be interpreted by some people as a near complete ban, but by others as no ban at all.

So how do the Countryside Alliance get away with making such laughable claims? Simple, the Advertising Standards Authority only has authority when advertising space is paid for. Not surprisingly the Countryside Alliance adverts that have been paid for have failed to mention the 59% claim. This means that the ASA cannot deal with any complaints.

If you see posters up in National Parks, please contact the Park Manager. For posters on road verges, road signs, or other public land, please contact the local council Highways Department. Obscuring road-signs, for example, is illegal, and should be reported to the police or to the local council Highways Department. For posters on telegraph polls, phone BT on 150 to complain. Explain where the posters are, and request that they be taken down. We have had several reports of this approach being successful over the last week. BT have even charged the Countryside Alliance for removal of such posters on previous occasions! Do please note, however, that individuals are free to put up temporary advertising and posters on their own property - farmers with posters on bales of straw in their fields, for example, are acting within the law.