A chance to protect our heritage'

Hunting's cultural heritage should be officially recognised, says Ed Swales

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DO you think that hunting is worth protecting and preserving? Natural hunting with canines is the root of humankind's attempts at survival. Cultures developed from the skills required by a group and community to work together as a team and the rituals and traditions that ensued.

The oldest known cave painting of a hunting scene is one of a pig hunt in Indonesia 50,000 years ago. Quite some legacy, I'm sure you'd agree. We have yet to find a cave painting of a salad.

These codes of conduct and rituals developed into the etiquette, bonds and customs that hunting activities around the world today portray so iconically.

The Kazakh eagle hunters wrapped in furs, mounted on sturdy ponies; the Inuit seal and whale hunters of Alaska and Canada; the splendour of the Beaufort Hunt; the coal mining pitmen of north-east England and South Wales with their rabbiting lurchers.

So, who says that this is not central to the cultural heritage of this global hunting community? It is the very essence of who we are and how we identify ourselves to each other and in wider society. A tradition is only a tradition if it is currently lived. If not, it’s simply history and something from the past.