URGENT: Ask SNP to vote against fox hunting on Wednesday!

The UK Government has just announced that MPs will vote ON WEDNESDAY 15 JULY on whether to relax the ban on hunting wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales - that is, whether to effectively decriminalise fox hunting.

Fox hunting is a cruel bloodsport where poor foxes are chased down with dogs and often torn apart alive before being shot by huntsmen. Foxes control their own numbers and do not need culling.

Keeping fox hunting banned via the vote next week critically depends on whether the Scottish National Party (SNP) MPs vote. The SNP is against fox hunting, and would vote against repealing the Hunting Act. However, because this vote is about laws in England and Wales, and does not affect Scotland where fox hunting will remain banned, the SNP has not yet decided whether it will vote at all.

Please sign now to urge the SNP to vote to protect foxes in England and Wales.

If the SNP does not vote, there is a real risk that fox hunting with dogs could become effectively legal again in England and Wales, and it would take many years before it could be banned again. In which time, many many foxes would die a horrific death.

The vote on Wednesday is for an amendment to the Hunting Act which would allow an unlimited number of hunting dogs to 'flush out' a fox, under certain conditions. Whilst the Tories say this is not decriminalising fox hunting, that would be the realistic result, as the 'conditions' are vague enough that it would be too easy for hunters to use them as an excuse.