THE North Down Hunt, who have long been targeted by anti-hunting saboteurs, have not closed down despite inaccurate claims by the Hunt Saboteurs NI group that they had.
The group went so far as to claim credit for the hunt dissolving in a self-congratulatory Facebook post.
A member of the hunt confirmed to The Irish Field this week that, while the hunt was no longer taking fallen stock, the kennels were still in operation and their now small membership continued to hunt where they could.
It comes as a previously failed push to introduce a ban on hunting in Northern Ireland has been renewed by John Blair, member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for the Alliance Party.
The North Down Hunt, based outside Comber, used to conduct a famous New Year’s Day procession through the Co Down village of Crawfordsburn, ahead of a cross-country run nearby. The event was subject to annual protests and eventually wrapped up a few years ago.
Inaccurately announcing the end of the North Down Hunt, the Hunt Saboteurs NI Facebook page recently posted: “There, no doubt, will have been many factors leading to this hunt’s demise, but we like to think it was in large part down to the dogged determination of our sabs over the years. Of course, this is just one hunt out of many across the country, and so, the fight is not over.”
Speaking to The Irish Field, the hunt representative said: “This is not true, we are still in operation, we just stopped taking fallen stock, it was costing us far too much money to be perfectly honest. We’re just a very small pack, we keep our heads down and that’s just the way we’d like it to stay. I’m afraid I don’t hold a lot of hope for the future of fox hunting in Northern Ireland, the nature of farming is changing and so much land is being sold off, it’s getting more difficult.
“We are aware of the consultation on a ban. We think it should be re-evaluated, as it’s about the pretence of what they believe hunting is – it’s not actually about fox hunting at all – but people choose to believe what they want to believe.”
Around three years ago, the NI Assembly rejected a bill seeking to outlaw all hunting with dogs, including fox hunting, hare coursing and terrier work.
Now Mr Blair, who proposed the bill, is conducting a new public consultation on the matter and plans to reintroduce an amended piece of legislation next year.
“It is truly shocking we are in 2024 and still have no ban on hunting wild mammals with dogs, despite Alliance’s previous attempts to do so,” Mr Blair said.
“We came incredibly close to seeing this legislation become a reality a few years ago. I am hoping this time round we can give a voice to the majority of people who remain opposed to hunting wild mammals with dogs and show that Northern Ireland does not condone it whatsoever.”
The survey can be found at surveymonkey.com/r/JBHuntingPMB.