HSA News

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!

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deal’ being struck with the Warwickshire Hunt after the Community Protection Notice that had been served on them was withdrawn.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.

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.

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.