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Belfast Live

National

Jilly Beattie

'Hunting with Dogs' vote could impact results for some MLAs seeking re-election

Belfast DUP Jim Allister Rachel Woods Armagh (Geopolitical Entity) Newry North Antrim South Down Strangford Alliance Party

The count is on and speculation is rife on the election results after Northern Ireland went to the polls on Thursday with 239 candidates seeking 90 seats.

By Saturday evening the results should be in, no doubt leaving 149 people wondering exactly what went wrong for them.

And animal welfare campaigners across Northern Ireland believe a percentage of lost votes could come down to a decision 150 days ago in which MLAs voted for or against an anti hunting bill. brought forward by the Alliance Party.

MLAs who cast their votes in December on John Blair's proposed bill which sought to have hunting with dogs banned, did so after research revealed that it could impact future election decisions by voters.

The proposed Bill was narrowly defeated 45 to 38 with votes against the bill from all 25 Sinn Fein MLAs, 19 from the DUP and TUV leader Jim Allister. The votes supporting the bill came from seven Alliance MLAs, nine from the Ulster Unionist Party, six from the DUP, two from the Green Party and 10 from the SDLP.

Research in place before the Thursday's election showed that the majority of people surveyed in Northern Ireland about the bill would be less likely to vote for candidates who supported hunting animals with dogs. And if their party was mainly or wholly pro hunting too, their chances of garnering votes from the population were diminished too.

One local anti-hunt campaign group has continued to lobby MLAs on social media to continue their fight to have hunting with dogs banned here. And their Change.org petition is one of the petitions in the UK, currently with almost 62,000 people's signatures.

Participants in the research were asked two questions in the survey carried out by Survation on behalf of the League Against Cruel Sports Northern Ireland.

Question 1: “If a candidate standing in your local constituency during a general election supported hunting live animals using dogs, would this make you more or less likely to vote for them?”

Question 2: “If a political party supported hunting live animals using dogs, would this make you more or less likely to vote for them?”

More than 70% of those surveyed also said that they would be less likely to vote for a party which supported hunting.

The Survation poll found that the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland - almost 70% of those surveyed, were in favour of a ban on hunting animals with dogs. Other findings included:

Deer hunting with dogs: 84% want it banned and 8% saying it should remain legal
Fox hunting with dogs: 76% said fox hunting with dogs should be made illegal, with just 15% saying it should remain legal.
Hare hunting with dogs: 76% said hare hunting with dogs should be banned, with just 12% saying it should remain legal.
Rabbit hunting with dogs: 74% said rabbit hunting with dogs should be made illegal, with just 15% saying it should remain legal.

John Blair of the Alliance Party said his personal and political view was that hunting could not be considered a sport and was deeply disappointed by the result of the vote on his bill.

A public consultation had attracted more than 18,000 respondents, with 80% in favour of a ban. Hunting wild mammals with dogs has been illegal in Scotland, England and Wales since the early 2000s.

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