BAN SOCCER, KEEP THE HUNT:

Ban on hunting has taken heavy economic toll (STEPHEN McGINTY, 9/21/04, The Scotsman)

WILLIAM Hodge looks across the Border to England with a mixture of pity and resignation. Hard times arrived at his stone farmhouse near Waterbeck, which he shares with his wife, Penny, two years ago when the Scottish Parliament banned fox hunting. As a similar law descends on England and Wales, he knows exactly what his fellow tradesmen can expect. "It’s been hard, very hard. Every year has been a struggle."

For 17 years, the Hodges have run a stud farm near Lockerbie and, for 15 of those years, huntsmen were among their best customers. But since 1 August, 2002, a cloud has settled over their business prospects; two staff have been made redundant, the couple now work around the clock and their income has dropped by 25 per cent. Anger is their principal emotion.

"It’s ourselves and the farmers that keep the countryside," said Mr Hodge. "The townies should keep to themselves. It would be a different matter if Tony Blair banned football because of the problems of hooliganism. We are a minority, but it is OK to target us because we aren’t ethnic." [...]

Before the ban, which is yet again being challenged in court today, Scotland’s ten hunts employed 30 full-time staff; now there are only 15. In 2002, there were 1,100 hounds; today there are only 500, with more than 400 animals having been put down - a fate that may yet befall hundreds more. The irony is that, far from sparing foxes, the new legislation has resulted in a 50 per cent increase in the number of foxes killed during the newly adapted "hunts" with guns.

Under the old system, the fastest and fittest foxes would escape, leaving the hounds to dispatch the older, frailer beasts. Under the new system, riders follow the hounds as they pursue the foxes into the open, where they are then shot. There is no opportunity for the fitter animals to escape. The new adapted "hunts", where the riders are invited on to farmers’ land to help with pest control, have proved unpopular with traditionalists; many have chosen to hang up their red woollen coats and retire.

The attendance at each hunt has halved. Where, in the past, the Duke of Buccleuch’s hunt, for example, would attract as many as 100 riders, attendance is down to just over 30. What is surprising, however, is the resilience of those hard-core enthusiasts who are determined to continue. In the Borders, one group has even taken to using bloodhounds to track a human - a willing volunteer. Jeremy Whaley, who rode with the Borders Bloodhounds, explained that a local farmer and cross-country enthusiast is given a 40-minute start, then pursued. "It’s not the same, but it can be good fun."