A pro-foxhunting organisation, Hunting Kind, has initiated a legal campaign to classify hunters as an ethnic minority protected under the UK Equality Act 2010.
Ed Swales, the chair of the group, has asserted that a leading human rights lawyer has validated their claim, stating that hunters meet all five criteria necessary for ethnic minority status.
In an interview with the FieldsportsChannel podcast, Swales shared that the group has spent three years developing a legal case. This case has been reviewed by a human rights King’s Counsel associated with the European Court of Human Rights. Swales remarked, “The human rights silk concluded that we unequivocally qualify as a protected minority group under the Equality Act.”
Hunting Kind intends to use legal avenues to demonstrate that hunters have faced discrimination, including job loss, contract termination and social media harassment. If successful, this would afford hunters protections akin to those granted to the Roma and LGBTQ+ communities.
Swales accused “the animal rights extremist movement” of perpetuating conflicts against hunters under the guise of animal welfare.
Former Labour minister Mike Foster criticised the group’s initiative, suggesting that they have “lost the plot.” On social media platform X, he commented, “The hunt lobby never fails to disappoint.”
Swales also appealed to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, citing his legal background as a reason for potentially understanding their stance. He emphasised that hunting plays a crucial role in wildlife management and his group is committed to challenging what they call the “Bambi effect.”
[Image created via MidJourney]