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Fair game now

I wonder whether anybody was naive enough to believe that the animal ‘rights’ thugs would be appeased by the abolition of fox-hunting?

A gang of masked hunt saboteurs wielding baseball bats smashed up rods, damaged cars and started fights in an unprovoked attack on a group of anglers.

The anti-bloodsports campaigners are believed to have targeted the fly-fishermen after failing to find many grouse-shooting parties to disrupt in the North West of England.

The gang emerged from woodland near Bank House Fly Fishery at Caton, near Lancaster. About 30 men carrying baseball bats and blocks of wood descended on the lake shouting “Sabs” before smashing the anglers’ rods, damaging nearby cars and starting fights. Two fishermen were assaulted and a woman was punched in the face.

The timing is about right to ensure a Labour Party manifesto promise to outlaw angling by, say, 2013.

13 comments to Fair game now

  • Jeffersonian

    That would happen, oh, once at an American trout stream before anglers would be packing heat. The second encounter would be vastly more entertaining.

  • Eric Anondson

    Recognizing that activists are trying to abolish hunting and fishing there has been a movement in some states to amend their constitutions to recognize and protect hunting and fishing as part of a state’s heritage. In my state, Minnesota, for instance: Article XIII, Section 12 of the Minnesota Constitution: “PRESERVATION OF HUNTING AND FISHING. Hunting and fishing and the taking of game and fish are a valued part of our heritage that shall be forever preserved for the people and shall be managed by law and regulation for the public good. [Adopted, November 3, 1998]

  • Ties in with the above post.If you appease the terrorists -whether Muslim or Animal Rights they will just up the ante.

  • No matter how my other political opinions change and evolve, my hatred for animal “rights” scumbags remains constant.

  • Julian Taylor

    … the saboteurs are urged to erect ‘match cancelled’ signs, wire up gates, blow whistles and splash in the water to scare off the fish.

    Heavens forbid that those sort of swampies would venture anywhere near water – they might get clean.

    As for the notion that fish can hear whistles …

  • The best solution is for anglers to take a baseball bats and start using them on these guys. Violence needs to be met by violence because anyone who thinks the state will save them greatly misunderstand for what purpose of the modern state actually exists. It does not exist to protect you, it exists to serve itself.

    The state is not your friend.

  • Julian Taylor

    Quite so. This government’s newest wheeze – that of encouraging people to go out and fish more – apparently specifically targets Muslim women. I have this rather bizarre mental pictures of women in full rubber chador and waders trout fishing in the Test.

    It would be a truly sad day for the United Kingdom if in order to enjoy a day’s peace a quiet on the banks of your local river you need to equip yourself with a baseball bat or shotgun for your own defence. As for using violence against these rather disturbed men and women I think they should expect to be treated exactly for what they are – people using terror to inflict their own opinions on others, i.e. terrorists, and we have plenty of experience on how to deal with terrorism in the UK.

  • This is not terribly surprising to be honest. I wonder if people will finally pull their finger out and stand up for their fellow citizens’ right to use their time as they wish. I do rather hope that anglers arm themselves so they can defend themselves against these violent thugs.

  • It’s hard to over-estimate the importance of being willing to met violence with violence, and doing so in a way that accepts not only is the state not doing to back you up, the other side will initiate violence and then use the state against you if you fight back. That’s why the first thing you do is completely smash any cameras they have before moving on to their cars and bodyparts, and ensuring all partipants on your side have a polite but completely uncooperative standard operating proceedure when dealing with the cops.

  • Since foxhunting is banned, are there horsemen sitting on their mounts, wearing their red coats, in the rivers, fishing?

    Unbelievable. Wouldn’t happen in the US. I row on lakes that are mostly fishermen out there. I wouldn’t take these guys on. They’d beat the crap out of the animal rights wacko hippies if not shoot them.

    At least these fishermen should cast at the wackos and try and fishhook them. That hurts.

    My oncologist wears a button stating ANIMAL RESEARCH SAVES LIVES. A different issue than hunting and fishing, but a critically important one. I owe my life to animal research.

  • Dave

    Its all very well to say that but anyone fighting back would get a tougher jail sentence than the original attacker, who probably wouldn’t get a jail sentence at all.

  • Julian,
    I understand that the wildlife is tamer over there, but I always go fishing with my 9 mm on my hip: we have black bears here in New Hampshire that can mass up to 600 lbs, and moose that can mass up to 1200 lbs. Both can be very agressive and disagreeable, particularly during the rut, or when their young decide to walk on the other side of you from mum.
    And of course, a billyclub is always useful for executing a rather toothy pickerel, eel, or sturgeon one might catch on occasion.

    In addition to laws protecting hunting and fishing, we specifically have laws making it a misdemeanor, and occasionally a felony assault to harass a hunter or fisherman engaged in his avocation.

    I’ll note that a fishing rod is a dandy tool to poke someone’s eye out with, a scaling knife is fine for deadly self defense, and one’s fishing net over the head and around the neck of one’s attacker is a fine way to get him or her under control… methinks that british fishermen are just too damn polite to stand up in their own defense.

    IMHO someone over there should organize self defense classes for sportsmen, teach them to use their normal equipment as defensive arms. Of course, you’d need to get rid of that absurd law against self defense you have.

  • Paul Marks

    The government (national, local, and various government funded bodies) are indeed spending a lot of money and time on getting the “ethnic minorities” out into the country.

    The country is “racist” you see (in that it is supposedly where people go to get away from the ethnic minorities), and this must be countered.

    The government campaign is having some success. For example, only last year a group of Muslims went white water rafting – they were just the sort of people the government likes (school teachers, friends of ruling party officials).

    Of course then the group went and exploded themseleves on the London Underground (Metro), but one can not have everything.