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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS
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MONTH: March 2006
League against cruel sports gets a break
LONDON––The Royal Mail has agreed to accept £2,000 from the League Against Cruel Sports in lieu of as much as £500,000 in postage due fees claimed after hunters hijacked a fundraising appeal.
“A plea to supporters for donations to a free billing address ended up involving the bomb squad, police and Royal Mail fraud investigators,” recounted Helen Nugent of The Times of London.
“Problems began when hunt enthusiasts heard about the drive. A round-robin e-mail was sent to hunters urging them to send Christmas cards, empty envelopes, and bulky packages. Within a fortnight, van loads of bricks, telephone directories, heavy books, abusive letters and animal excrement were sent to the league’s offices in South London. One hunter posted a dead squirrel.”
Among those circulating the e-mail, Nugent reported, were allegedly “the wife of an employee at Buckingham Palace. Another is believed to have been sent from the Master of Foxhounds Association.”
Alastair Jackson, chair of the Master of Foxhounds Association, denied involvement, but told Nugent that “everyone applauded the idea at the time.”
The original e-mail proposing the scheme “stated that the Countryside Alliance backed the idea, but this was refuted by the alliance,” Nugent said.
None of the senders of either the e-mail or the objects handled by the Royal Mail have been criminally charged, but Scotland Yard is reportedly still investigating.