 A POWERFUL new coalition of politicians yesterday called on "people power" to save fox hunting in Wales. The cross-party group of politicians said they wanted more than 100,000 people to sign a petition demanding the Assembly altered its stance on the ban on hunting with hounds. The petition, called Reclaiming Hunting For Wales, was launched at the Royal Welsh Show yesterday. It was conceived by farmer's wife Nerys Evans from Llanbrynmair, Powys, who was alarmed at the effects of the ban on lamb losses on her 30-acre mixed farm. The mother-of-five, who keeps a hound for her local hunt, said: "I feel the whole issue has been swept under the carpet. "My family has grown up with hunting and I fear that the ban is disrupting something which is very much part of the cultural tradition of the countryside." Organising the petition, which was being circulated to showgoers, was Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Öpik, a member of the parliamentary Middle Way Group which advocates licensed hunting. He chaired a press conference yesterday with Welsh Tory AM Brynle Williams, Plaid AM Helen Mary and Lib Dem AM Mick Bates. Mr Öpik said the group believed the hunting ban was damaging animal welfare and limiting farmers' ability to manage their livestock. | 
