Pro-hunt alliance funded RSPCA infiltrator
Rob Evans and David Hencke
GuardianSaturday April 28, 2001
The pro-hunting Countryside Alliance covertly funded an attempted infiltration of the RSPCA led by a former Olympic showjumper, according to leaked documents seen by the Guardian.
The animal charity has accused Richard Meade, who won three Olympic medals in 1968 and 1972, of spearheading a campaign to encourage 600 hunt supporters to join the society to overturn the society's long-standing opposition to bloodsports.
Mr Meade faces possible expulsion by the RSPCA, which is planning to look at legal options to force him to leave the society at a future meeting of its ruling council.
His group, the Countryside Animal Welfare Group, set up five years ago, consists of 5,000 RSPCA members who want to make the charity support fox hunting.
The internal accounts of the Countryside Alliance, seen by the Guardian, show that in 1999, it gave Cawg at least £13,490 to fund a mailshot and the "fees and expenses'' of Mr Meade. The alliance admitted that this was part of a larger sum over a longer period but declined to disclose the full amount that had been given to the showjumper.
Nigel Henson, the alliance's director of communications, said the unpublicised funding was "entirely consistent'' with its support for Cawg's aims. He added: "This is yet another disingenuous attempt by the anti-hunting lobby to smear the reputation of the alliance, and we are fed up with it.'' Mr Meade said Cawg had "certainly'' received money from the alliance, but was "not part'' of the alliance. `On the whole, we are separate, particularly now. Initially there was a bit of help,' he said.
Ben Stewart of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said: "This is blatant dirty tricks. You have to wonder just how low this lot will sink.'' In January, the RSPCA won the legal right to make people say why they wanted to join the society after an attempt by Mr Meade to recruit members of hunts
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