Why anti-hunt petitions should be treated with a gigantic shovel of salt

Every now and then, the press office is approached by a local reporter asking for a comment on a petition that is demanding to ban trail hunting or events associated with it. Over the festive period, the target is usually a Boxing Day meet.

Recently, we were asked to comment on a petition that is calling on Tiverton Town Council to denounce the increasingly popular meet which takes place annually in the town centre. The top line figure presented to us was ‘over 1,000’ people had signed a petition, which on the face of it does seem quite high for a highly localised event. However, with most petition websites, it is incredibly easy to see where signatures are coming from by simply clicking on the profiles of those leaving comments.

In the case of Tiverton, it quickly became evident that many of the signatures coming in were not from the town. Nor was it clear that many were even from the wider county. Many of those we found were from outside the region, with some coming from as far away as Luxembourg. 

When the context of the proposed story is that a local councillor in Tiverton is using said petition to prop up their obsession with targeting the meet, these points really do matter and need pointing out.

Many familiar with the ‘pile on’ tactics of animal rights activists know that signing these petitions, regardless of whether the signatory has any connection to the local event (or has even heard of it), has become an obsessive hobby. But for policy makers and some in the media, the headline figures can seem eye-wateringly high and present a skewed reality that the 1,000 people in this case, are representative of local sentiment.

Given that the meet in Tiverton continues to attract huge crowds of people, who in turn support local businesses that open their doors for the day, it is unsurprising that the petitioners have relied on outside support to help foster a narrative that the event is somehow unpopular. 

We were quick to point this out and sent the reporter the following comment, which was thankfully included in full:

“This year, as with previous, saw hundreds of local people come out in support of the annual Tiverton Boxing Day meet, an entirely lawful activity. It brings families and neighbours together and much needed business to the town.

“How anyone, especially a local councillor, could look at those scenes and want to ban it, is frankly appalling and demonstrates a colossal lack of judgement.

“Councillors fixated on wasting more council time on this need to put their prejudices to one side and move on to addressing local issues that actually matter to people. From a basic search of the petition, many signatories are not from the local area- with some even coming from as far away as Luxembourg.

“This is a classic tactic of animal rights activists, who obsessively sign online petitions as a hobby, despite having little to no connection to a local area and the community that they are targeting with their hatred.

“Hopefully, Tiverton Town Councillors will stand by their local rural community and support this incredibly important, popular, and joyous event for years to come”.

This is not the first case of petitions on highly localised issues being bombarded by animal rights activists with little to no clear connection to a specific locality. In Cornwall, two years ago, organisers of a petition called on the council to 'ban all meets of Trail Hunts on public space and Council owned land'. At the time, the petition had attracted some 10,000 signatures and was put before the council for discussion. 

The council's website stated that petitions will only be considered if at least 250 people have signed it and goes on to say 'Any petition submitted to the Council must be signed by at least 250 people. These people must live, work, study or use the service(s) that the petition relates to within Cornwall.' While some of the signatories self-identify as being from Cornwall, many others were identified as being from outside the county, as far away as Knysna in South Africa.

While the petition was eventually debated, it failed after Cornwall Council voted against banning trail hunting.

Of course, anyone is free to sign a petition and register their opinion. However, the Countryside Alliance will continue to make the case to policy makers, particularly local ones, that it is important to look beyond the number of signatories to a petition – however high – when trying to establish genuine local sentiment towards a local issue. This is particularly true for local politicians worried about whether voting any one way may impact them electorally.