Hunt fight taken to Labour's door (From Stroud News and Journal)

Hunt fight taken to Labour's door

EXCLUSIVE

A SACK full of dead chickens and pheasants was left on the doorstep of the Labour Party's office in Stroud on Friday morning just hours after the anti-hunting ban went through Parliament.

Staff arriving at MP David Drew's Stroud office were confronted by the black bin liner crammed full of the dead chickens, pheasants and feathers and a brief note reading:

"Three cheers for the fox! I forgot to shut these up, but then I'm only human." But Mr Drew's aides refused to let the incident ruffle their feathers.

"Someone who was too careless to take proper care of their chickens feels that dumping their bodies on our doorstep proves that hunting is a good idea," said the MP's assistant Sarah Madley.

"Anyone who is too idle or too stupid to take proper care of their chickens and make sure they are locked up at night is not fit to be responsible for livestock.

"If this is the best argument they can muster to support their barbaric pastime it shows how sad they are and just how low they will stoop."

She said she kept chickens herself and was disgusted by the macabre attempt at point scoring.

Mr Drew said he could not understand the mentality behind the poultry protest. "I don't know how they think this is going to influence me," said the MP. "It has completely the opposite effect."

He said the desperate demonstration had not changed his stance on hunting and he still supported the ban.

Asked about whether he thought it was workable he said: "It's the same as anything, we'll have to give it time to see.

"Any new law needs time to bed in but police have made it quite clear that if the law is broken they will take steps to enforce it."

Police spokesman Marie Watton said while officers had received a report of the incident there was no 'fowl' play to investigate as no crime had been committed.

"The caller said she suffered no alarm of distress so therefore there is no offence," said Ms Watton. "No further police action will be taken."

This was not the first time Mr Drew has been targeted by frustrated hunt supporters. In September a lump of concrete was hurled through the constituency office's front window the morning after the House of Commons passed the hunting ban.

A Countryside Alliance placard reading: "fight prejudice, fight the ban" was nailed to a tree opposite the office.

David Marshall, a spokesman for the district council, confirmed the authority's environmental services contractors had picked up the poultry but there were no immediate health implications.

"Unpleasant though it is we wouldn't really view it as a health risk as they hadn't been there that long," said Mr Marshall. "So long as nobody handled them it wouldn't be a problem."