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Hunt Saboteurs Association: February Round-up
10/03/2025
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.
Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow – Coursing in the East
07/03/2025
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.
Hunt Saboteurs Spring Sale!
05/03/2025
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.
Middleton Hunt Caught Out by Eye in the Sky
28/02/2025
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.
Ex-Huntsman Sam Staniland Convicted of Animal Cruelty
26/02/2025
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.
Beaufort Hunt Heighten Drone Wars In Premeditated Attack
26/02/2025
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.
Cruelty United: Shropshire Hunt Hides Body Of Dead Fox
24/02/2025
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.
20 years later, they’re still hunting, so we’re still sabbing!
21/02/2025
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.
Taunton Vale Harriers – A Very Public Death
19/02/2025
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.
Twenty years of the Hunting Act
18/02/2025
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.
Aniseed and Antis: CountryFile covers the Hunting Act!
17/02/2025
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.
Terrierman Takedown At The Cottesmore Hunt!
12/02/2025
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.
January 2025 Review: Same As It Ever Was – Blatant Hunting & Violent Attacks!
10/02/2025
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.
Urgent: Hunt Saboteurs Association Appeal For Information!
04/02/2025
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.
Poison, Traps and Shooting – Organised Crime on the Grouse Moors
27/01/2025
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.