I'LL SHOOT MY HOUNDS
What the Holcombe master has threatened to do if MPs vote to ban fox hunting

Published in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 16 January 2001
by David Higgerson

THE MASTER of an East Lancashire hunt today warned that its hounds will be shot if their blood sport is banned by MPs. Arnold Greenhalgh (pictured left), head of the Holcombe Harriers, which hunts foxes and hares, spoke out just a day before Parliament is due to vote on the issue for the third and final time. His statement has been slammed by the RSPCA, which said it had called on hunts to reduce the numbers of hounds being bred ahead of tomorrow's crucial vote. And Dawn Preston, from the North West Hunt Saboteurs Association, said: "This is just another attempt by the hunting fraternity to divert the hunting debate from the real issue -- that of animal cruelty."

The hunting bill gives MPs three options -- allowing hunting with dogs to continue with voluntary regulations, hunting with dogs under licence from a new hunting authority, or a complete ban. Mr Greenhalgh, of Brindle, joint master of the hunt, spent Boxing Day hunting on the moors above Rivington and regularly visits Rossendale and Hyndburn. He said if an all-out ban was approved, then his group would have no choice but to shoot the hounds who have faithfully served the Holcombe Harriers. He said: "We are, to be honest, expecting it to be banned. We don't know what we will do. The hounds will be of no use to us and they can't be retrained. They will have to be shot. "They have been bred for the purpose of participating in fox hunts and live as a pack in lodgings. They can't become pets because they can't live on their own. "Everyone seems opposed to foxhunting, and we do live in a democracy so people are entitled to their opinions, but a lot of the facts have been lost in the chaos caused by the hunt saboteurs. If fox hunting is banned, these dogs will be shot. The anti-hunt lobby say the lives of foxes will be saved, but only 16,000 out of 400,000 foxes killed annually are killed by hunts. No foxes will be saved at all." Mr Greenhalgh was the target of hunt saboteurs in November 1996 after they claimed a fox was left to die in agony after being trampled on by a pack of horses.

A spokesman for the RSPCA said today: "We believe the hounds can be retrained as pets or to take part in drag hunts, when a man-made scent is set up with a decoy at the end, which causes no suffering. "The hunts have been aware of this Bill in Parliament and should have reduced the number of hounds being bred." Four of East Lancashire's six MPs will vote to ban hunting tomorrow, Wednesday. Home Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw will chart a middle course of regulation of the blood sport while Ribble Valley Tory Nigel Evans will vote against a ban. But Hyndburn's Greg Pope, Rossendale and Darwen's Janet Anderson, Burnley's Peter Pike and Pendle's Gordon Prentice will vote for a total prohibition on hunting with hounds. Mr Pope said he refused to be swayed by the Holcombe Hunt threat to kill their hounds if the ban went ahead. He said: "I very much doubt that they will slaughter their dogs. I won't be swayed by that sort of pressure. "It's not a sport. It's unnecessarily cruel, barbaric and medieval and it needs to go." Labour backbencher Mr Pike said: "I shall vote for a total ban. It's not a sport. It's barbaric and it needs to be banned."

Pro-hunting emotive ploy stinks

Editoral Comment, Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 16 January 2001:

ON the eve of the vote in the Commons on the government's hunting bill comes a revolting tactic by the master of East Lancashire's only foxhunt, manifestly designed to put pressure on MPs intending to opt for an outright ban. For, says Holcombe Harriers' Arnold Greenhalgh, if hunting is outlawed, all his hunt's hounds will be shot.

The specious explanation for this is that the dogs, bred purely for hunting foxes, cannot be retrained and so would have to be killed as they would no longer be of any use. If nothing else, this attitude speaks eloquently of the pitiless regard that members of Holcombe Harriers have for their hounds, if, once they can no longer be exploited for their hunting abilities, they can so summarily discard them. In any case, it contradicts the RSPCA's view that foxhounds can indeed be retrained and become pets. But does not that posture amount also to an emotive device to coerce our legislators by warning them that they will be surrogate killers of innocent foxhounds if they ban the bloodsport altogether? It is a ploy that stinks.

For, whatever Mr Greenhalgh may threaten and even if it is the case that foxhounds cannot become pets, there is no necessity for them to be put down if hunting with dogs is outlawed. He and his fellow Harriers and hunt enthusiasts all over the country can still go haring off on their horses after the hounds -- in the bloodless and uncruel pastime of drag-hunting. All that would need to be exterminated is their own warped lust for hounding a living creature to death. And when all the shabby distractions, such as the threatened slaughter of hounds, are set aside is not that the essence of the option that MPs have of an outright ban -- to eradicate from a civilised 21st-century society the sick and cruel business of people killing animals, pests though they may be, for pleasure? This newspaper is pleased that four of our region's MPs are not swayed from that view.

To shoot hunt dogs would be 'ridiculous'

Published in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 17 January 2001:
by Bill Jacobs

AN East Lancashire MP has described the threat by a local hunt to shoot its hounds if their bloodsport is banned as "absolutely ridiculous." Rossendale and Darwen's Janet Anderson is sure homes could be found for the animals. She spoke out as MPs prepared to vote on whether to ban hunting with hounds.

If it was banned Arnold Greenhalgh, joint master of the Holcombe Harriers, said slaughter was the only option for the dogs. MPs have three options -- allowing hunting with dogs to continue under voluntary regulations, hunting with dogs under a licence from a new hunting authority, or a total ban. They would be much better off in a happy home where they can be looked after rather than going out to chase foxes and rip them to pieces."

Mr Greenhalgh, from Brindle, said the hunt which regularly visits Rossendale would have no choice but to shoot the dogs. They were of no use if a ban came in, could not be retrained and could not become pets because they have been bred and trained as pack dogs.The RSPCA denied shooting would be necessary.

Hounds Could Be Rehoused

Published in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 3 March 2001
by Dawn Preston, North West Hunt Saboteurs Association, PO Box 155, Manchester.:

The hunting fraternity would do well to stop hiding behind claims that a ban on hunting would require the mass slaughter of hounds. I know that a loving home could be found for each and every hound from the Holcombe Harriers, despite the unrealistic claims that such 'pack animals' cannot be rehomed. This is nonsense but obviously has to be peddled to maintain the myth that all hounds would have to be killed in light of a ban.

And as for claims that hunt saboteurs have 'admitted' that we would target angling once a ban on hunting is in place, the Hunt Saboteurs Association has always been opposed to all forms of bloodsports, and this includes shooting and fishing. Unlike the Countryside Alliance et al, we are not afraid to say clearly what we stand for.