Use Your Voice to Help Ban Hunting With Dogs in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is a step closer to introducing a ban on hunting wild mammals with dogs – but we need your help to ensure it happens. A public consultation on the issue has been launched, and policymakers want to know your views. Make sure politicians get the message that the majority of people in the UK are against this blood sport.
Hunting with dogs has been illegal in England, Wales, and Scotland for 15 years – it’s time for Northern Ireland to follow suit. A poll carried out by Survation in 2019 found that the overwhelming majority of the public in Northern Ireland want to see hunting deer (84%), foxes (76%), hares (76%), and rabbits (75%) with dogs made illegal.
Why This Ban Should Be Supported
Let’s put the politics aside for a moment to remind ourselves of what we’re actually talking about, because it doesn’t get much crueller than setting a pack of hounds loose on a terrified fox, rabbit, deer, hare, or any other animal and watching as they’re ripped to shreds. Blood sports of any kind have no place in the UK.
From the terrifying chase that can cause them to rupture organs when fleeing the hounds to the moment they’re surrounded, petrified and exhausted, and then shot or ripped apart by dogs, every minute of these hunts involves cruelty to animals – and they must end. Animals who are not killed outright and manage to escape the hounds are often left to die slowly and agonisingly from blood loss or infection. Mothers who are killed may leave behind their young to starve.
In today’s society, hunting wild mammals serves no purpose other than to provide a small minority of deranged individuals with twisted amusement.
How to Show Support for the Ban
This consultation is now closed. We’ll update you with the response as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, take a moment to sign our urgent action alerts.
