Trust backs hunting of sick deer

12 April 2012

National Trust members backed a controversial proposal to allow the hunting of injured deer on its land.

The move had been fiercely opposed by anti-hunting groups, who feared the practice would be open to abuse and called for more "humane" methods to be used.

The League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) had appealed to members to support their motion to reject the exemption during the charity's annual meeting at Cheltenham Racecourse.

But their resolution for a blanket ban was defeated, with 20,187 members supporting the trust's policy, compared to 12,768 who backed the LACS. A further 1,539 abstained.

The vote gave the Devon and Somerset Staghounds the right to follow and kill deer if they are "clearly sick and injured".

The trust had banned all deer hunting on its properties in 1997, but in May controversially relaxed the regulation after deciding it was the quickest way of dispatching sick animals.

The League Against Cruel Sports strongly objected to the partial lifting of the ban as a war of words broke out between the two camps in the row.

Douglas Batchelor, the pressure group's chief executive and Trust member, compared the trust's policy to asking "paedophiles to supervise a children's playground".

Pro-hunt groups hit back claiming the LACS had an "obsessive hatred" of people who hunt and were opposing a practice which was in the best interest of suffering animals.

Speaking after postal votes were counted, Jenny Barsby, from the LACS, said she was disappointed by the defeat but pledged to closely monitor the hunt's actions on Exmoor.

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