An Island group formed to oppose the reintroduction of fox hunting has set up a petition urging the Island’s MP Andrew Turner not to vote for the hunting ban to be lifted.
Last week, the Government announced that it would seek to introduce amendments to the Hunting Act via a statutory instrument (SI), which will be debated by MPs on Wednesday. Islanders Against Fox Hunting (IAFH) believe that the SI will make it much easier for illegal hunts to take place by providing hunters the ability to use increased numbers of hounds to flush out wild mammals.
The Islanders Against Fox Hunting Facebook Group was set up in June 2015 in response to a statement from Andrew Turner MP that he would vote to support the repeal of the Hunting Act 2004.
Islanders Against Fox Hunting currently has over 1,400 members and has created an online petition urging Andrew Turner not to vote for the hunting ban to be lifted. This petition has nearly 3,000 signatures.
A spokesperson for IAFH said:
“If this Statutory Instrument is approved, we face a real threat of seeing the return of the pursuit and killing of foxes by hounds. This is an unnecessary and cruel activity, and we feel we have a duty to protect our wildlife by expressing our absolute objection to even the suggestion of the amendment.
“If Island residents do not wish to see a return of fox hunting it is imperative they contact the Island’s MP, Andrew Turner now and tell him their views.
“We are particularly concerned that the Conservatives are going against their party manifesto of promising a free vote on repealing the Hunting Act, with ‘a government bill on government time’.
Article continues below this advertisement “We call on Andrew Turner MP to vote against the statutory instrument being debated this week and instead press the Government to put forward a new bill which can be properly considered by both Houses of Parliament. This is an important issue for which there is no quick fix”.
The petition can be found online at: https://www.change.org/p/andrew-turner-isle-of-wight-mp-please-vote-to-keep-the-hunting-ban.
