Back in 2014 when Leilani Franco from the UK won a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for her remarkable skills as a contortionist she probably never imagined that within a few years she would be facing a challenge from the Countryside Alliance (CA). However we live in strange times and are now treated to the interesting spectacle of the CA lobbying to have the Game Act 1831 amended to include much tougher powers against hare coursers whilst simultaneously campaigning to have the Hunting Act 2004 and the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 repealed.

The problem is that whilst the Hunting Act and the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act prohibit the hunting of wild mammals with dogs strengthening either of these 21st century acts to make life harder for hare coursers would also make life more difficult for fox hunts. Closing loopholes, increasing sentences, allowing compensation and seizure orders could well make hare coursing prosecutions easier and more effective but would also have the same effect on illegal fox hunting should it take place. The Game Act 1831 was passed during the reign of Kind William IV (who he ed?) and was intended to protect property not wildlife. It is not the hunting of hares with dogs that is prohibited per se but the taking of those hares without the landowner’s permission. Much safer to strengthen a law that can’t be used without the landowner’s consent that one that relies on the discretion of the the police and the various prosecuting authorities for its enforcement.

Hare coursing is a real problem for country dwellers with damage to field boundaries and gates, disturbance to stock and domestic animals and the general upset of a gang of trespassers rampaging over one’s land. However there are reports of similar problems with fox hunts. Surely the law should be applied equally to all regardless of their birth, class or status? Is this not the application of the ‘rule of Law’ so beloved by those representing us in the ‘Mother of Parliaments’? Answers to these questions from our lawmakers would be interesting but probably not as much fun as watching the contortions of the Countryside Alliance and their cronies. Let’s hope they don’t hurt their backs with all that contorting.