Catch up on recent news from the Hunt Saboteurs Association
A secret deal between Warwickshire Police and the Warwickshire Hunt has finally been released, following a two year campaign by West Midlands Hunt Sabs to expose the truth.
In early December 2024, Lake District Hunt Sabs prevented a fox from being killed by the Blencathra Foxhounds near Bowscale in the Northern Fells. Acting on a tip-off from concerned hikers, sabs arrived in the area to find the Blencathra’s hound trailer parked up on Swineside Road and hunt supporters lining fellside tracks with binoculars at the ready.
While the red-coated fox hunters inevitably dominate the Boxing Day media headlines, the festive season is also an important time for hare hunters, who like to squeeze in a few extra meets during the season of peace and goodwill.
Fortunately, this fact is not lost on hunt sabs who have mobilised against hare hunters across the country.
Special Report by Northants Hunt Sabs
As the Cottesmore Hunt gathered in Wymondham village, at the home of their former master huntsman and current British Hound Sports Association (BHSA) vice-chairman Andrew Osborne, Northants Hunt Saboteurs arrived with their own special guests in the form of Chris Packham (C.B.E. Broadcaster and Natural History Expert) and Megan McCubbin (Zoologist) who emerged from our vehicle in style!
Boxing Day is seen as a big day in the hunting calendar, a day focused on public relations with many hunts parading through town centres and offering a sanitised image of their bloodsport. With all of the added attention, it is often the only day that many hunts actually behave themselves and act within the law. But despite this, some just couldn’t help themselves…
On Monday 23rd December – a time of supposed peace and good will – hunt sabs were confronted with the horrific reality of hunting at the Suffolk-based Thurlow Hunt.
The annual Boxing Day Hunt Parade is a traditional fixture in many towns’ Christmas calendars, with families turning out to enjoy the ‘spectacle’. The hunt lingers for a while, drinking port, eating sausage rolls and basking in the admiring gaze of the public. So, what happens next? Here, we provide a step-by-step, behind-the-scenes account of how the rest of the day unfolds.
We at West Midlands Hunt Sabs have been calling the Warwickshire Hunt an Organised Crime Group for some time, but last night on Channel 4 News that view was repeated by a serving Warwickshire Police officer.
We have been campaigning for years to expose the corruption that we believe goes right to the top of Warwickshire Police and resulted in the controversial ‘secret deal’ being struck with the Warwickshire Hunt after the Community Protection Notice that had been served on them was withdrawn. This meant the Warwickshire Hunt effectively bypassed due process.
This view of corruption among senior officers at Warwickshire Police was confirmed by a serving officer within Warwickshire Police speaking anonymously to Channel 4 News. The officer states that they were not surprised by any of the behaviour around the hunt – it is just something that happens at Warwickshire Police, suggesting, perhaps, that the secret deal scandal is just the tip of the iceberg.
Just two weeks after we reported on the Beaufort Hunt bringing down a sab drone, another hunt has targeted our ‘eye in the sky’ technology.
Paul Watson has finally been released from prison! The anti-whaling activist, former hunt sab, founder of Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation has spent the last 5 months incarcerated in Greenland.
Sheffield Hunt Sabs have been focusing their efforts on the Grove & Rufford Hunt for four seasons now, and the pressure is obviously piling up.
They’ve been through four huntsmen in that time: Paul Larby leaving in disgrace after being caught shagging someone he shouldn’t in the hound van, the next, Gary Joynes, was a stand in gardener who didn’t know his horn from his whip, followed by an unmemorable Ben Higgins, and most recently a Tom Haddock.
Their mastership is also in disarray, with clear divisions in the hunt, a shortage of whips, and not many field riders with them either. When the only thing you can rely on is the sabs turning up each week, we can see why tempers are running high within the hunt, and the frustration is mounting.
Last Saturday, the Brecon-based Sennybridge Farmers Hunt caught and killed a female fox. Foot sabs rushed into the field but were too far away to stop the kill – it was very sudden.
Sabs had pulled over to allow vehicles to pass and then saw the hounds hunting south along Fforest Fach, west of Defynnog. Suddenly, there was a fox in the field and hounds were on her straight away. Foot sabs raced towards them but sadly the fox was already dead by the time they got there.
The Hunt Saboteurs Association has teamed up with naturalist, environmental activist and TV presenter Chris Packham to shine a light on the cruelty and criminality rife within the hunting world.
The series of 20 hard-hitting videos are being released across the social media pages of Chris Packham and the HSA in a countdown to the festive hunting period, exposing many shocking aspects of present day hunting.
In the last few weeks hunt sabs have been particularly active against beagle and basset packs engaged in illegal hare hunting.
The De Burgh & North Essex Bassets – one of just six remaining basset packs – have been hit on three Saturdays in a row. On each occasion, the hunters put the hounds on leads as soon as sabs were spotted on the horizon. Also in the last couple of weeks, the Severn Vale Beagles and the Royal Agricultural College Beagles both scuttled back to their meets when confronted by Severn Vale Hunt Sabs.
Eleven months since the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act of 2023 became law, Glasgow Hunt Sabs are pleased to report the demise of another Scottish fox hunt. The Liddesdale Foxhounds – who were kennelled in the Scottish Borders – follow in the footsteps of both the Fife Foxhounds and the Lanarkshire & Renfrewshire Hunt in going under.
On Monday December 2nd, a court in Greenland extended Paul Watson’s detention until December 18th, whilst the Danish Ministry of Justice decided whether to extradite him to Japan.
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.
On Saturday 29th November, the battle against fox hunting reached new heights – literally – as the Gloucester-based Beaufort Hunt launched a premediated attack on a Wilts Hunt Sab drone.
When West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs arrived at a Dummer Beagles meet in Great Wolford, Warwickshire, they launched their drone to assist the foot team in locating the hunt.
However, not realising the drone was above them, the Dummer Beagles carried on hunting with huntsman Stephen Duckmanton casting the beagles out across a field in the hope of finding the scent of a hare. It wasn’t long before a hare was put up. In the footage A hare waits until the last second before quickly putting a field between itself and the chasing pack of beagles.
Covert footage has been passed to the HSA showing a member of the South Shropshire Hunt blocking a badger sett. Several members of the same hunt are due in court this coming Tuesday on charges of badger sett interference.
