With just over a week to go until the government’s public consultation on strengthening the Hunting Act closes, the HSA is today releasing horrifying leaked footage from within stag hunting.
The short clip shows a badly injured red deer hind in the final stages of a hunt. Her back leg is visibly broken or dislocated and is hanging uselessly as she cowers in deep water, desperately trying to hide against the bank. Two hounds are deliberately allowed to torment her at close range while she stands spent, trembling, and in total physical collapse – the so-called “at bay” moment so beloved of the stag hunters.
Steve Coates, Master of the Devon & Somerset Stag Hounds, is clearly visible in his red coat. He is heard repeatedly ordering the gunman James Wyatt not to shoot the suffering animal. The clip ends with Coates casually instructing Wyatt to “break it” – meaning break his rifle and render the firearm useless, instead of ending the hind’s agony.
The hunt master instructs the gunman to break his shotgun, proving that the hunt could in no way claim that the “dispatch of an injured animal” exemption in the Hunting Act 2004 was being used as an excuse for its despicable actions.
This is not exempt hunting. This is prolonged, deliberate torture for amusement.
When the HSA showed the footage to actor and animal rights campaigner Peter Egan he commented:
“This is shocking and brutally cruel and exposes deep psychopathic behaviour. The poor animal is clearly exhausted and disabled and is being tormented by both the hounds and the humans. This lack of empathy exposes the deep and ugly pleasure these thugs continue to indulge in and have the audacity to call it ‘Research and Observation of Wildlife’. It is abject cruelty; these subhumans should be locked up!”
Although there are only three stag hunts, they are amongst the most cynical in their abuse of the Hunting Act. For over twenty years, depravity of the kind seen in this video has been justified by claims of trail hunting and the exploitation of glaring loopholes in the Hunting Act.
You can help end this cruelty by completing the trail hunting consultation today!
The government has launched a public consultation on Trail Hunting – this is our chance to stop cruel hunting for good. You can read the HSA’s guidance and take part in the consultation here. The deadline is 18th June 2026 – make sure your voice is heard.
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