A CHILDREN’S nurse has been selected to be the new face of the pro-hunting lobby. Sarah Bell, 25, who rides with the Worcestershire hunt, is to appear in advertisements being launched this week by the Countryside Alliance.

In one picture with the slogan “Now you hate her” she is photographed in a hunting jacket. Another picture, of her in her NHS uniform, has the slogan “Now you love her”.

The use of a public servant in such a campaign is bound to infuriate anti-hunt MPs. Miss Bell asked permission to take part in the campaign and her bosses agreed on condition that her hospital near Warwick was not identified.

MPs are to vote in the final stage of the Hunting Bill in the Commons next Monday. Alliance chiefs say that the advertisement aims to show that hunting is for ordinary people and not just for toffs.

Miss Bell, who volunteered for the campaign, said: “I am fed up with the prejudices about hunting and I don’t think the Government has got its priorities right.

“I don’t know why the Government is so keen to introduce laws for hunting when there are still problems in the health service. We don’t have enough staff and don’t have enough equipment such as specialist beds or wheelchairs. I just don’t think hunting should be a priority.”

She has hunted since the age of 12 and also enjoys shooting duck and pheasant. She was brought up in the countryside outside Birmingham and was taught to ride by her mother, Christine Sheppard, an eventer, who was once part of the British world championship team.

Miss Bell said that she rarely discusses hunting at work. “I don’t force my opinions on anyone. We’ve all got our different lifestyles and backgrounds. I would take someone on a hunt if they wanted to see what it was like.

“It’s about managing the population of foxes and it’s very important for people to understand that. I’ve seen a fox being killed and thought it was very quick and clean.” She keeps a horse at her boyfriend’s farm in Warwickshire and tries to go out once a week in the season, depending on her work commitments.

She also hopes to find time to attend the vigil by 1,000 women hunters outside Parliament next Sunday. This event with the slogan “Pants to Prejudice” will include some women brandishing their underwear in disgust at the threat to hunting.

Douglas Batchelor, chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “Cruelty in the name of sport remains cruel whether it’s carried out by a nurse, a doctor, a company director or a peer of the realm.”

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