Another Week, Another Guilty Hunt Terrierman.

Yesterday, Tuesday 3rd December, South Shropshire Hunt terrierman David Conde pleaded guilty at Telford Magistrates Court to interfering with a badger sett.

Conde was caught in January 2024 on hidden cameras in woodland west of Shrewsbury, blocking badger sett entrances with a spade just ahead of a visit by the South Shropshire Hunt.

Today, three members of the hunt – William Hand,Toby Holly and David Conde – appeared in Telford Magistrates Court to answer the charges. Conde pleaded guilty to the offence, and will be sentenced on the 29th January next year. The other two men pleaded not guilty, and their cases will go to trial on the 12th June next year. 

Covert camera footage – captured in January 2024 – clearly shows hunt terrierman Dave Conde blocking an active badger sett with his spade.

After Conde blocks the sett, the hounds are put in the woodland and huntsman Daniel Cherriman – who has previously been convicted of illegal fox hunting – is seen on another hidden camera at the artificial fox earth. He looks down at the pipe entrances – clearly indicating that he knew it was there and what it was for.  He then uses his horn to call the hounds over the artificial earth. 

Artificial earths mimic fox earths, and are built by hunts to encourage foxes. They are designed so a terrier can be put through to ‘flush’ a fox out. Flushing a fox from an earth in front of hunt hounds was made illegal as part of the Hunting Act 20 years ago, but this footage shows this is still common practice.

The job of the terriermen in the hunt is to trap foxes above ground on the day of the hunt. They achieve this by visiting all known fox earths, badger setts, and other potential refuges before the hunt and ‘flushing’ and then ‘stopping’ them – filling them in – with earth or other material.

A Hunt Saboteurs Association spokesperson commented:

“It’s obvious hunting with hounds is still happening. You don’t need to flush foxes, or block badger setts at a so-called trail hunt. We urgently need the Labour government to act on their manifesto commitment to ban trail hunting, end terrierwork and close the Hunting Act’s many loopholes.”