Hunting With Hounds
NFA together with the Political Animal Lobby (PAL), an NGO with the same directors, took on the challenge of ending hunting with hounds by lobbying for an Act of Parliament to do just that; joining with many other fine animal welfare groups in pursuing this goal.
Supporters of NFA and PAL lobbied as individuals by calling and writing in the thousands to Members of Parliament asking to support a ban on this cruel sport. This really was democracy in action.
What PAL brought to the table, however, was a remarkable new lobbying technique. We would help the most animal friendly political party win a general election by donating very significant money to its election campaign. But first we had to ask PAL supporters if they would contribute to this unconventional way of pushing animal welfare issues, and in particular a ban on hunting with hounds higher, much higher on the political agenda of the three main parties. Amazingly, and in defiance of a multitude of naysayers, British animal lovers responded with an overwhelming readiness to try something new and very aggressive.
In the general election that brought Tony Blair's Labour Party (by far the most animal friendly party) into power, PAL donated one-million-pounds towards Labour's election campaign. And animal welfare vaulted up the political agendas of all parties.
All three main parties have now embraced animal welfare by creating a Minister in charge of animal issues which was something animal welfare groups had agitated for, for decades. And hunting with hounds was ultimately banned after some 600 hours of sometimes acrimonious parliamentary debate. The current legislation has some flaws, however, and needs improvement. NFA and PAL supporters do not give up and will fight for this as hard as they fought for the original ban.
