Former LACS director hits out at ‘time wasting, vexatious’ campaign to ban trail hunting in Cotswolds

The Countryside Alliance has taken to the local Gloucestershire media to criticise the latest attempts by the League Against Cruel Sports to ban trail hunting on council owned land.  

LACS are calling on Cotswold District Council to implement a district-wide ban on hunting, but its former director has hit back, saying their campaign was not about animal rights but "rural prejudice and warped priorities." 

The Countryside Alliance, which has thousands of members across Gloucestershire, will be carefully watching any developments in relation to the campaign and the council closely. 

Speaking to Gloucestershire Live, Jim Barrington, who worked for LACS during the mid-nineties and now advises the Alliance on animal welfare, noted in his criticism of the call for a ban that the local Liberal Democrat run council had made an effort to connect with rural voters in recent years.

The League campaign is calling on members of the public to sign a petition calling on the local council to put an end to the lawful practice of trail hunting. 

Recent attempts to implement hunting bans in Cornwall, Cherwell, North Northamptonshire, and Essex have failed, after intervention by the Alliance and local hunts. 

Mr Barrington accused the League of “spreading mistruths” and “fuelling division”.

He said: “LACS has a history of spreading mistruths about the reality of trail hunting. There is no justification whatsoever to ban a legal activity on public land.

"Residents in the Cotswolds, like elsewhere in the country, want councillors to spend time on pressing matters facing the local community, not wasting valuable time and resources on legitimising LACS’s vexatious and totally unnecessary demands.

“Their campaign has nothing to do with animal welfare, but everything to do with rural prejudice and warped priorities.”

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