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Posted on 08/18/2006 7:57:53 PM PDT by 1066AD
Anglers attacked by animal extremists By Nigel Bunyan (Filed: 19/08/2006)
A gang of masked animal rights activists has attacked a group of anglers, prompting fears that extremists are determined to widen the scope of their campaign of intimidation.
The 35 masked extremists had earlier disrupted a grouse shoot before being moved on by police.
A handful of people, some of them families, was enjoying a day out at the Bank House fly fishery, at Caton, near Lancaster, when the saboteurs arrived.
Lucy Belson, of Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria, was fishing with a friend when they suddenly found themselves at the mercy of the gang.
"They began throwing stones at my rod and one of them said, 'It's the easy way or the hard way. You've been sabbed.' They told me to pack up and go or I was 'going to get wet'."
Fighting broke out as two anglers on a nearby stretch of bank struggled with the protesters. Miss Belson, a resuscitation nurse at Westmorland General Hospital, in Kendal, said: "I decided to get out of there and go home but suddenly they all ran towards me waving bats and blocks of wood, shouting, 'Get her'. "I was jostled and they smashed my fishing rod."
As she broke away from the melee, Miss Belson saw another woman being punched in the face and several cars being vandalised.
"I was shaken at the time but now I am angry," she said. "They are cowards and I certainly won't be frightened to go back to the lake. I love fishing and I have been doing it since I was a little girl."
Lancashire police believe that the anglers were the victims of an opportunistic attack. Earlier in the day the saboteurs had tried to disrupt a grouse shoot at Lowgill, near High Bentham.
At the height of the confrontation, police called in the force helicopter, an armed response vehicle and nine other vehicles. However, there were no arrests and the saboteurs headed away.
Pc Duncan Thomas, the force's wildlife officer, said that saboteurs were increasingly attacking anglers.
"Both anglers and grouse shooting parties should be aware of the threat to them and they should have contingencies in place to protect themselves."
A Countryside Alliance spokesman said: "It does seem to be the way animal rights extremists are heading. Their issue is not animal welfare - it is about hating people. They simply want to cause trouble."
Last year animal extremists attacked anglers on the Grand Union canal, in Milton Keynes. Some of the fishermen were thrown into the water.
Tom Fell, the regional director of the Countryside Alliance for Cumbria, said: "These people will stop at nothing to achieve their ends. They are a real worry and a real danger."
Like what ? Protect yourself too enthusiastically and face prosecution yourself.
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In Montana we often fish with large caliber revolvers strapped to our belt because of bears...
They obviously are similar to people who bomb abortion clinics in that they figure that they will get progress by intimidation.
Abortion is murder; fishing is getting food.
I keep trying to imagine a group like this disrupting a dove shoot in Georgia...
nope, can't imagine it.
In Idaho when I was younger we always carried around a few large triple snag hooks -- just to get rid of suckers, carp and other trash fish, you understand. (Before suckers became a protected species, of course). Now and then someone got hooked in a clumsy cast...
No, go ahead and imagine it:
Masked animal rights thugs charge into the midst of dove hunters, thinking bird shot won't hurt them.
A number of hooded human shapes suddenly lying very still and quiet.
Imagine it......
;^)
You mean a grouse gun, or lead weights AREN'T protection contingencies?
Oh, yeah. Merry Old England, where the patients run the asykum, and victims only have the choice of either lying down, or bending over.
Maybe they should carry a wad of bank notes, and when confronted, throw them into the air, then run like Hell.
We have bears where we fish here in CT too. And on my belt...
I have some friends here in Florida that when they go up-river on a fishing trip for a few days, they pack a little artillery just in case.
They also carry a case of scotch, just in case of snakebite.
They also carry along a case of snakes so that the scotch won't go to waste.
My German Shepherds are poor bird dogs,but I don't think I have to worry about masked strangers bothering me while I hunt either.The dogs work on a simple principle;you bother me-they will bother you.
Sorry, but I'd be dunking some AR pansies in the water, maybe to the point of their being scared, then worrying about the consequences later.
Okay, I've been trying to tell folks we have idiots like this (including a LOT of freepers) in the U.S., who think when they send money to the HSUS, PETA, etc., they are helping "little puppies and kitties," you know, saving animals.
As she broke away from the melee, Miss Belson saw another woman being punched in the face and several cars being vandalised.
These brave souls, fighting for their cause by beating defenseless woman with rocks, bats and blocks of wood. /sarcasm
I can't envision 35 hooded extremists disturbing our fishing.
I honestly believe our small hospital could not handle 35 casualties all at the same time.
>>>>Like what ? Protect yourself too enthusiastically and face prosecution yourself.
Shoot, shovel, shut up
:)
How about the morgue? ;-/
Depending on where I am, I fished armed, too. Go ahead, make my day. Of course these idiots know they can get away with this in the UK.
The Cure . . .
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