HSA News

Four members of the Dorset-based Blackmore & Sparkford Vale Hunt are due to appear at Poole Magistrates Court on Friday 28th June on Hunting Act charges.

June 1st marks the official start of the 2024 supplementary badger cull. This means that innocent badgers will be shot dead from today all the way through till January 31st 2025.

Hunt sabs have been in action against mink hunts at opposite ends of the country this week. On Friday, sabs from across Yorkshire shut down a meet of the Northern Counties Hunt; yesterday, North Dorset sabs confronted the Courtenay Tracy Mink Hounds on the riverbank.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock (and we wouldn’t blame you!) you’ll know that there’s going to be a General Election on July 4th – a prospect that brings hope of real change to the deeply flawed Hunting Act.

In Part 1 ‘Artificial Earths; A Year-Round Deception’, we covered the Spring and Summer months, which included the hunt’s preparation work out of season, and the rearing of fox cubs ready for the new hunting season. In Part 2, we will cover the use of artificial earths during the autumn and winter months, which coincides with the hunting season.

A barn full of old folks in bright waistcoats? A verge full of Sabs in their new black spring outfits? Mink hunt sabbing must be underway!

Following Channel 4’s recent national news coverage of the infamous ‘secret protocol’ between Warwickshire Police and the Warwickshire Hunt – together with a looming General Election and a stronger ban in Scotland – the enforceability of the Hunting Act for local police forces has very much been a hot topic.

Glasgow Hunt Saboteurs report on their first season under new hunting law in Scotland.

Last week, sabs from North Dorset spent three consecutive days in Bournemouth Crown Court giving evidence and victim statements. On Thursday 4th April, a jury unanimously found Charlie Mayo, a member of the Blackmore & Sparkford Vale Hunt (BSV), guilty of Actual Bodily Harm.

The use of artificial earths by hunts has been well documented by the Hunt Saboteurs Association. This is the practice of building underground chambers for foxes and in particular fox cubs, so that the hunt can keep a regular supply of quarry to hunt. Like so many other hunting traditions, this did not stop when hunting with hounds was banned in 2005.

With the fox and hare hunting now ending for the season, a hardcore of bloodsports enthusiasts are about to take to watercourses to follow their summer hunts, and hunt sabs are poised to stop them!