30/12/2025
**copied but well worth reading and sharing**
The Twenty-Year Lie: How Hunting Argued Itself Into Extinction
The response from pro-hunt groups to Labour Partyโs announcement that it intends to ban trail hunting as part of its animal welfare reform agenda has triggered a spectacular, public crash out ๐ฅ. What has followed is not debate โ, not evidence โ, and not concern for rural life or animal welfare ๐พ๐พ, but an undignified unraveling of a culture caught lying to itself and everyone else ๐คฅ. In the space of days, the masks have slipped entirely ๐ญโrevealing panic ๐ฑ, entitlement ๐, and a torrent of threats and contradictions that amount to an accidental confession ๐ข. Every hysterical claim, every shifting excuse, every doomsday warning about foxes ๐ฆ, farmers ๐, hounds ๐, and horses ๐ only reinforces the same truth: trail hunting was always a smokescreen ๐ฌ, the law was never respected โ๏ธโ, and the outrage now erupting is the sound of a privileged minority realising that, at last, the impunity they relied on is being dragged into the light ๐ฆ.
There is something uniquely grotesque ๐คข about watching a movement argue itself into a corner it created, furnished, and then occupied for twenty years โณ. The pro-hunt lobbyโs current rhetoric is not just dishonest; it is a rolling confession of guilt ๐จ, dressed up as concern ๐, tradition ๐ฐ, and wounded entitlement ๐ค.
Take the hysterical refrain that all the hounds and horses will have to be shot ๐ซ if hunting is finally, properly banned. This is not an argument against reform; it is an admission of reckless, deliberate over-breeding ๐งฌ. Hunts have had two decades since the ban to reduce hound numbers responsibly ๐. They did not โ. They chose excess ๐, because excess served the continuation of illegal hunting ๐ซ๐ฆ. That is not the fault of the law โ๏ธ, nor of campaigners โ, nor of the public ๐ฅ. It is the direct consequence of their own choices ๐ฅ.
And the horses? ๐ For years weโve been told the same story: weโre only out for a lovely ride ๐. Excellent ๐. Now is the moment to prove it โฑ๏ธ. Horses can hack ๐, compete ๐, and be used for leisure, therapy, farming, and recreation ๐ฑโjust like millions of others across the country ๐ฌ๐ง. The suggestion that their only possible fate is death unless foxes are hunted by packs of dogs is absurd ๐คก, manipulative ๐ญ, and frankly insulting to anyone who actually understands equine welfare ๐ง ๐ด.
Then thereโs the fox population mythโnumbers need controlling ๐ฆ๐. Do they? ๐ค Where is the evidence? ๐ Where are the peer-reviewed ecological studies proving an urgent, national fox crisis that can only be solved by chasing animals to exhaustion with dogs? ๐๐จ None are produced โ. None are cited โ. And even if such evidence existed, it would immediately collide with the huntโs other favourite lie: weโve been trail hunting for 20 years ๐ค๏ธ. You cannot simultaneously claim that foxes must be controlled by hunting while insisting you have not been hunting foxes at all ๐. Pick one ๐ฏ. You canโt have both without admitting youโve been lying ๐คฅ.
The same contradiction infects the landowner scare stories ๐๐ฑ. We are told that farmers only tolerate foxes because of the hunt, and that without it theyโll wipe them out en masse ๐๐ฆ. Againโwhy would that be the case if hunts have been trail hunting all this time? ๐คจ Why would fox tolerance be dependent on a practice that supposedly hasnโt involved foxes for two decades? โณ These arguments donโt just fail; they collapse under their own weight ๐งฑ๐ฅ.
And that brings us to the core issue: credibility ๐งพ. Why should society grant any platform, sympathy, or legitimacy to a group that has spent twenty years breaking the law at scale? ๐ Illegal hunting, evidence tampering ๐๏ธ, intimidation ๐, money laundering structures ๐ท, routine dishonesty ๐คฅ, and contempt for regulation โ๏ธโ are not unfortunate side-effectsโthey are foundational behaviours ๐งฑ. These are not good-faith actors engaging in debate ๐ฃ๏ธ. They are criminals demanding consideration ๐จ.
Worse still, the damage has not been confined to wildlife ๐ฆ๐ฆ. Ordinary peopleโhunt saboteurs โ, monitors ๐, local residents ๐กโhave been forced to put their lives on hold โธ๏ธ to confront this lawlessness. Living in a hunting area while opposing its cruelty is to live half a life ๐: always waiting โณ, watching ๐๏ธ, worrying ๐. Always wondering which fox didnโt make it home today ๐ฆโ. Always bracing for intimidation ๐ , violence ๐ฅ, or abuse ๐ฏ๏ธ from a group that believes opposition to their hobby is an affront to their birthright ๐.
And that beliefโthat they have a god-given right to behave however they chooseโruns through every threat they make โก.
Let us get our own way or weโll kill all the foxes ๐ฅ๐ฆ
Let us get our own way or the hounds and horses will die ๐๐๐
Let us get our own wayโyouโre stupid townies ๐๏ธ๐คก
Let us get our own wayโwe grow the food ๐พ
Let us get our own wayโitโs our land ๐๏ธ
Let us get our own wayโitโs tradition ๐ฐ
This is not reasoned argument ๐ง โ. It is coercion โ ๏ธ. It is the tantrum of a privileged minority accustomed to deference and furious that it is evaporating ๐ก๐จ.
Then come the desperate deflections ๐ช: halal slaughter ๐, dog walking bans ๐๐ซ, class war โ๏ธ, roadkill statistics ๐๐ฆ, sheep myths ๐, fallen stock fantasies ๐, chickens ๐, urban foxes ๐๏ธ๐ฆ, dead livestock piling up in fields ๐งโโ๏ธ๐พ. Each one wheeled out, discarded, and replaced the moment it fails โป๏ธโbecause none of them address the central truth: hunting with hounds was banned, and they never stopped ๐ซ๐ฆ.
Every one of these arguments simply confirms what campaigners have said for twenty years ๐ฃ. You werenโt misunderstood โ. You werenโt unfairly treated โ. You werenโt engaging in a lawful pastime โ. You were lyingโcontinuously, strategically, and arrogantly ๐คฅ๐ฏ.
What makes this final phase so uncomfortable to watch ๐ฌ is the contrast. While the hunting lobby has stagnatedโrecycling the same threats and insults ๐โthose who opposed them grew up ๐ฑ. People built lives ๐ก, families ๐จโ๐ฉโ๐ง, businesses ๐ผ, qualifications ๐, networks ๐. They learned the law โ๏ธ. They gathered evidence ๐. They refined tactics ๐ง . They endured violence ๐ฅ, harassment ๐ , police bias ๐โ, and judicial prejudice โ๏ธโ. And they kept going ๐โโ๏ธโnot out of jealousy ๐, not out of boredom ๐ด, but out of loyalty to the animals torn apart for entertainment ๐๐ฆ.
Grassroots movements do not win by entitlement ๐โ. They win by persistence ๐. By truth ๐. By growth ๐ฑ. And despite everything thrown at themโevery smear ๐งผ, every assault ๐, every sneer ๐โthis one did exactly that ๐ช.
Now, at last, the masks have slipped ๐ญ. Everyone can see what hunting with hounds really is ๐๏ธ. People are holding their noses ๐คข, not because campaigners smell, but because the stench of this practice has become unbearable ๐ฆจ.
The flush has been pulled ๐ฝ.
And this time, there is no lie left to cling to as it disappears forever ๐.
