Catch up on recent news from the Hunt Saboteurs Association
February may be the shortest month, but it wasn’t short of hunts being persistently sabbed, sabs using drones, illegal hunting, hunt violence and hunt trespass. The 18th of February marked the 20th anniversary of the Hunting Act coming into force and 20 years on sabs are still witnessing hounds hunting foxes to ground in badger setts, setts being blocked and terriermen going equipped.
The coursing of wildlife with sight hounds across the eastern counties hit the national headlines recently with the rampage of a gang of approximately 70 individuals in multiple vehicles across the countryside around Ely at the end of January.
It was widely reported that many emergency calls were made to the police by the local community as hares and deer were killed and crops and property damaged. With no units attending, the gang continued with impunity for several hours and will undoubtedly be emboldened to do the same again by the lack of law enforcement.
Spring has finally sprung…foxes will soon be giving birth to their cubs, hares are putting on their spectacular boxing displays, and the Hunt Saboteurs Association is having sale.
York Hunt Sabs sent the following report.
The notorious Middleton Hunt met at Woodside Farm Bed & Breakfast/Holiday cottages in Westow/Howsham on Wednesday 12th February.
Today, Sam Staniland, the former huntsman of the Essex & Suffolk Hunt, appeared at Ipswich Magistrates’ Court facing six charges related to animal cruelty, including allowing dogs to fight with badgers and foxes. The case was brought by the RSPCA and Suffolk Police Rural Crime Team, following evidence discovered when police seized Staniland’s phone during an investigation into a separate fox hunting incident.
In November 2024, the Beaufort Hunt were hunting foxes at Widley’s Gorse, located on farmland owned by the Duke of Beauforts’ Badminton Estate, when the pack of hounds attacked a fox which was seeking refuge in a badger sett. Wiltshire Hunt Sabs were present and monitoring the hunt with a drone, which captured footage of the hounds attacking the badger sett. After the attack, aware that sabs had likely filmed the attack, the huntsman led the hounds to nearby Commonwood Farm, a regular hunt safe-haven, while the sab drone continued to track their movements overhead. Unbeknown to sabs, the hunt had a countermeasure prepared.
Horrifying footage passed to the HSA shows the lengths fox hunts will go to conceal their illegal activities. A member of the public was filming the United Pack hunting around Corndon Hill in Shropshire on 30th January 2025, when they heard the huntsman’s horn blow for a kill in woodland.
Twenty years on from the birth of the Hunting Act, sabs are still defending wildlife.
The 18th of February marked the 20th anniversary of the hunting act coming into force, and even after all this time hunts up and down the country are still continuing as if it never happened.
The Two Bridges hunt club meet is an annual gathering of the four Dartmoor hunts (the Mid Devon, South Devon, Dartmoor, and Spooners & West Dartmoor) that grotesquely commemorates the anniversary of the Hunting Act.
On Thursday 30th Jan, a Somerset woman witnessed a pack of hounds tearing a fox apart after her afternoon was interrupted by a pack of hunting hounds running through the paddock outside her house.
Wendy Bowen, who lives in Westleigh near Lydeard St Lawrence, Taunton was working from home when she was interrupted by one of her dogs barking. She went outside to investigate what was causing his distress, and saw several hunt hound dogs in her paddock running loose. Shortly afterwards, she witnessed several hunt riders riding past her house, heading up the hill.
On this day in 2005 the Hunting Act came into force. It should have stopped the cruelty of hunting with hounds, but 20 years later hunts across the country are still chasing and killing foxes, hares and deer for fun. And often, hunt sabs are still the only people stopping them.
This week sees the 20 th anniversary of the enactment of the Hunting Act, an occasion marked by a special report on BBC’s Countryfile programme.
Viewers were treated to the sight of a hunt sab, an MP, and Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman – National Police Lead for Hunting with Hounds – all agreeing that illegal fox hunting was ‘widespread’ under the current Act.
In a major victory for Northants Hunt Sabs, the notorious Cottesmore Hunt – recently the subject of a live broadcast by Chris Packham – have had their terriers seized by Leicestershire Rural Crime Team.
A summary of events over the last month – it’s been a busy and intense start to the year for all our groups across the country.
Yesterday – Monday 3rd February – North Dorset Hunt Sabs and Weymouth Animal Rights attended a meet of the North Devon Beagles at Stoke Farm, Broadchalke in Wiltshire. As a result of events witnessed during the day, local sabs now believe that this may have been the opening meet in a hare-hunting festival.
Bob Berzins continues his series of posts on the darker side of Britain’s Uplands.
Every Saturday through the hunting season sab groups see co-ordinated criminal activity from dozens of people chasing and killing foxes. An equal co-ordinated effort goes into killing every creature that might have an impact on moorland grouse populations.
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…
