The idea
The Hunting Act was aimed at Human Beings not animal welfare. Allowing two hounds to flush vermin to guns shows the prejudice in the Act. Why two hounds not twenty? Because Human Beings might must be stopped from the sport of hunting regardless of animal welfare.
Recently a member of the public called the police because a pack of mink-hounds were being exercised on a river entirely legally (with landowner permission) . The accusation was made, without observation or any factual evidence, that the hounds were hunting otter. The complainant obviously did not know that it was otterhound packs themselves that were behind the banning of otter-hunting in 1977 because of a disastrous decline in numbers as a result of environmental pollution.
But what an enormous waste of a police-officer's time and and petrol. Surely our police have better things to do? Yet because of the Act they have to respond to a complainant's call however fatuous.
Why is it important?
In the interests of reason, human freedom and genuine animal welfare.