Fox-hunt ban has fur flying among Britons

DIDMARTON, England — Hunters with gleaming horses and packs of eager hounds took to the muddy fields of England and Wales yesterday, testing the limits of the government’s ban on hunting foxes and other wild animals with dogs.

Four men were arrested for hunting rabbits.

The police and hunt opponents watched closely on the first weekend since hunting with hounds was banned. The hunters arrested were the first suspected of breaking the new law.

“The law says a person is guilty of an offense if he hunts a wild mammal with a dog. That is a fairly straightforward piece of legislation,” Suffolk County Chief Constable Alastair McWhirter said.

Thousands turned out in Didmarton in western England to applaud the Duke of Beaufort’s Hunt, one of the country’s most prestigious, playing it safe with dogs following a scent trail rather than live foxes.

The Beaufort is close to Highgrove, Prince Charles’ country home, and he and fiancee Camilla Parker Bowles have ridden with the hunt in the past, wearing its distinctive blue livery.

They were absent yesterday, however.

Lord Mancroft, 47, a former hunt master, blamed the ban on Prime Minister Tony Blair, “the charlatan, the ham actor who is our prime minister.”

Mr. Blair promoted a compromise that would have allowed strictly regulated hunting, but neither the hunting opponents in the House of Commons nor supporters in the House of Lords gave ground. Instead, the Commons rammed through the ban, which became effective Friday.

“Thursday was one of the saddest days of my life. I blubbed like a baby at the thought that we might never hunt again,” Mr. Mancroft said. “But I am not sad any more. I am bloody angry.”

Police in Wiltshire, western England, said they arrested four men found at 4 a.m. with four dogs and the carcass of a rabbit. The suspects, whose names were not released, were apprehended under the new law and then freed on bail.

The suspects were not connected to any organized hunt, police spokesman Dave Taylor said.

Tim Leach, 25, a trainee lawyer, said he came out because it was a civil liberties issue.

“It’s class war really,” Mr. Leach said. “I shoot, and that’s going to go next. People feel very strongly about it, and there will be civil disobedience.”

John Robinson, 56, came from Manchester to watch the spectacle. He professed himself neutral on the hunting issue, but said “foxes have to be taken care of, either by hunting or shooting.”

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