The European Courts have dismissed the challenge to the Hunting Act made by the Countryside Alliance and Brian Friend in a landmark ruling. The judgment stated “The Court noted that the hunting bans in Scotland, England and Wales did not prevent or restrict the first applicant’s right to assemble with other huntsmen as he remained free to engage in many alternatives to hunting such as drag or trail hunting, which did not involve life quarry. The bans had been designed to eliminate the hunting and killing of animals for sport in a manner causing suffering and being morally objectionable.” Under Article 1 Protocol 1 the Court found “It did not find arbitrary or unreasonable the absence of compensation for the adverse financial impact of the bans on those whose businesses depended on hunting, given in particular that people had continued to gather for hunts, albeit without live quarry, even after the passage of the Act.” In addition the ruling made it clear that the Act did not affect negatively the hunter’s right to private and family life.
