Catch up on recent news from the Hunt Saboteurs Association
Eggesford Hunt huntsman Jason Marles has been convicted of illegally hunting a fox with hounds following an incident captured on drone footage during the hunt’s Boxing Day meet in December 2025. Marles, 44, pleaded guilty to hunting a wild mammal with dogs at Pudson Farm, near Okehampton, when he appeared before Exeter Magistrates’ Court on […]
Three people associated with the Mendip Farmers Hunt have pleaded not guilty to hunting a wild mammal with dogs. Emma Clothier, Charlie Thomas and Bill Payne appeared at Taunton Deane Magistrates’ Court on 15 September 2026. All three pleaded not guilty and are due to face trial on 15 September 2027. The case relates to […]
Cub hunting or ‘autumn hunting’ as it is referred to by hunts, has been underway for a few weeks now and already we are seeing overwhelming reports of foxes running for their lives and aggressive behaviour from hunts whose illegal activity is being exposed. On the 15th of September the North Cotswold Hunt descended on […]
At long last, charges have been issued against members of a stag hunt. Avon and Somerset Police have charged Quantock Staghounds hunt master Chris Gibbons and huntsman Martin Watts with illegally hunting a wild mammal with dogs in relation to an incident on March 16, 2026. Watts faces a further charge relating to a separate […]
Thirty-two years on from the controversy of the Barle stag, the excuses may have changed, but for the hunted stag the suffering is horribly familiar. More than three decades have passed since the death of the Barle stag became one of the most notorious episodes associated with stag hunting on Exmoor. Yet for those who […]
At the beginning of this year the Hunt Saboteurs Association was sent some of the most disturbing images we have seen in over sixty years of campaigning against bloodsports. They show a young child having their face smeared with the blood of a freshly slaughtered fox by huntsman Conall McGrath, then of the Flint & […]
A terrified stag made a dramatic leap for his life on the 24th August, leaping over hunt supporters who were attempting to prevent him from escaping onto land where the Quantock Staghounds could not follow. Incredible footage of the hunt and the stag’s subsequent escape – albeit temporary – was captured by Dorset Borders Hunt […]
On Thursday 4th June Phillip Kennedy, 48, kennel huntsman of the Stowe School Beagles – the hunt of the prestigious Buckinghamshire private school of the same name – pleaded guilty to the illegal hunting of a wild mammal with dogs contrary to the Hunting Act 2005 at Northampton Magistrates Court. With such overt cruelty and […]
Cub hunting, leveret hunting and stag hunting all started during August, while mink hunting has continued over the summer, meaning sab groups have been working hard, whilst tackling hot and dry weather conditions. The HSA as a collective has also been busy exposing blood sports; as well as working in the field to save lives […]
Today the Hunt Saboteurs Association can exclusively reveal the full footage that led to the recent conviction of Stowe School Beagles Kennel Huntsman Philip Kennedy for killing a hare in November 2025. This is the first step in our campaign to shut down this hunt. The footage shows both the extent of the cruelty of […]
The recent conviction of packs such as the Stowe School Beagles, the Pipewell Foot Beagles and the Dorset & Somerset Bassets have highlighted the ongoing issue of illegal hare hunting. But far from being deterred by their paltry fines, these and other packs will shortly be beginning their programme of illegal leveret hunting. What Is […]
In 2023, the UN released General Comment No. 26. This document updates the famous UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It explicitly states children must be kept safe from witnessing violence, including physical or psychological harm inflicted on animals. Yet every week across the UK children are taken out to participate in hunting, […]
The HSA has continually shared footage and information exposing the destruction and cruelty caused by the shooting industry. The extent of the persecution knows no bounds with badgers, foxes, corvids and all manner of wildlife being killed as the land is stripped of any natural balance just to appease those in tweed. So, as is […]
What is cubbing?Cub hunting or ‘cubbing’ is the highly secretive and illegal process by which new hounds are trained to hunt and kill foxes. Cubbing is visibly different from typical fox hunting as the hunt will appear to be more static, with much less riding across open country. As soon as crops have been harvested, […]
Guest post by Wiltshire Hunt Sabs: In July, after being alerted alerted to illegal practises at a local shoot, they paid a visit to the Stockton Shoot in Wiltshire and what they found was truly horrific – a bonfire full of dead charred birds, set next to the industrial sized operation.
With the current parliamentary reshuffles going on, the HSA shooting team takes a look at the influence of shooting interests in parliament in recent times. As has been widely covered in various HSA exposes, as well as by Animal Aid and more recently End Bird Shooting the pheasant and partridge shooting industry would struggle to […]
The Stowe School Beagles – dubbed “cruel and illegal” by Northamptonshire Police – have won a major prize at hunting’s showcase event, the Festival of Hounds.
In less than a few weeks the stag hunting season will begin, with the three remaining stag hunts in the south west, heading out to terrorise and kill mature autumn stags. This will continue until the end of October when they switch their sights to hinds. The autumn stag hunting season focuses on more mature […]
Recently, we highlighted a The Times article which exposed a plot by the current chair of the British Hound Sports Association (BHSA), Viscount William Waldorf Astor III, to “hoodwink” – or, to put it more plainly, deceive – government ministers over the forthcoming trail hunting policy. According to the uncovered plot, the proposal was to […]
Today the ever-shrinking hunting world will gather at the east of England Showground near Peterborough for their annual Festival of Hounds. For decades, this event was known as the Festival of Hunting but – as so often in the hunting world – language has been changed to hide their real intent. Fittingly, the Festival is now […]
