Shut Down The Stowe School Beagles!
JOIN US TO DEMAND THAT STOWE SCHOOL BEAGLES ARE SHUT DOWN
Following the conviction of their Kennel Huntsman, Philip Kennedy, the HSA has launched a campaign to shut down the Stowe School Beagles. Video evidence that led to the conviction clearly shows:
- The sustained illegal hunting and killing of a hare
- Behaviour that very strongly suggests that illegal hare hunting is a regular occurrence at the Stowe School Beagles
- Behaviour that clearly shows children being encouraged to commit illegal acts
With the 2026 -2027 hare hunting season about to get underway, we cannot allow another season of this abject cruelty: we demand the end of the Stowe School Beagles.
Watch The Video
What you can do
In the first instance, we are asking our supporters to politely contact Stowe School Headmaster, Dr. Anthony Wallersteiner, to demand that the pack is immediately shut down.
Quotes
"As a Safeguarding Children Specialist of many years' experience, former Assistant Director and Head of Safeguarding at three different local authorities, and Vice Chair of Child Exploitation Online (and many other significant posts in the public and voluntary sectors), I find it extraordinary that, in this day and age, adults employed by a school are encouraging children to engage in, witness and be part of illegal animal slaughter.
The fact they are then expecting the children to lie about what they have seen, and say they were hunting a trail and not a hare, is both extraordinary and incredulous.
As you can quite clearly see in these videos, adults who are purportedly employed by the school, which is a residential school, and therefore adults with a safeguarding responsibility and in loco parentis for these children, are actively encouraging them to hunt a wild animal, and applauding them when that animal is pulled apart by the hounds.
An extraordinary breach of moral and all safeguarding strictures that we have put in place and developed over the last 50 years."
The fact they are then expecting the children to lie about what they have seen, and say they were hunting a trail and not a hare, is both extraordinary and incredulous.
As you can quite clearly see in these videos, adults who are purportedly employed by the school, which is a residential school, and therefore adults with a safeguarding responsibility and in loco parentis for these children, are actively encouraging them to hunt a wild animal, and applauding them when that animal is pulled apart by the hounds.
An extraordinary breach of moral and all safeguarding strictures that we have put in place and developed over the last 50 years."
Safeguarding Children Specialist
“As the kennel huntsman of Stowe Beagles, Phillip Kennedy knew that allowing his dogs to chase and kill a hare was cruel and illegal. Even after the hare was dead, Kennedy and the rest of the group, stood and shook hands in a congratulatory manner instead of stepping in to stop the dogs from continuing to attack the hare.”
PC Chloe Gillies of Northamptonshire Police Rural Crime Team
“In 2023, the UN Committee on the rights of the child officially established that children have a right to be protected from witnessing animal cruelty. This is because of the psychological harm that exposure to animal cruelty has on children’s development. The harm includes traumatisation, desensitisation to violence and the clear behavioural connection to later interpersonal violence. However, this school is doing something worse than exposing children to animal cruelty: it is involving the children in perpetrating the animal cruelty. The harm that this may cause the children is unfathomable, including a high risk of future depression, anxiety and aggressive behaviour.”
Accredited clinical psychologist on seeing the video
You can find further background to the case here
- Kennel huntsman pleads guilty to hunting a wild mammal with dogs – Northamptonshire Police
- Sick Private School Hunt Guilty of Killing Hare – Hunt Saboteurs Association
- Deeply Worrying: The Stowe School Beagles – Hunt Saboteurs Association
- Coniston Foxhounds and Stowe Beagles Keep it in the Family – Hunt Saboteurs Association
- “Cruel And Illegal” Hare Hunt Celebrated At Hunting Festival – Hunt Saboteurs Association
- Killing on the Curriculum – School Hare Hunts – Hunt Saboteurs Association