HSA News

Avian Influenza has been a significant problem in the UK since 2021 and it’s no coincidence that the latest outbreak comes as the shooting industry gears up for the pheasant and partridge shooting seasons. In August 2022 the HSA revealed shocking undercover footage of gamebirds being reared at Shelford Pheasantries in Newark on Trent. The appalling conditions at the farm failed to comply with DEFRA’s own Code of Practice for the Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes.

A large contingent of sabs from across the country saved the lives of hundreds of red grouse today on the ‘Glorious Twelfth’, as shoots were stopped in the Forest of Bowland and the Yorkshire Dales.

There is never a dull moment as Hunt Sab groups across Britain continue to confront illegal hunting and wildlife abuse in the fields and in the courts. July was no different. Mid-summer is also the time where many of us can find some time to fundraise to support our operations for the rest of the year….and manage to have a little fun at the same time. Here’s a round-up of what’s been going on out there this month.

“In order to get young hounds trained to hunt they start hunting in the very early morning or evening once the harvest is clear usually in August or September. They are accompanied only by invitation of the Master for this beagling equivalent of the foxhunter’s cub-hunting.” – An Introduction To Beagling by Iain Clarke

The Decline of the Hunt Uniform

In the Deeply Conservative World of Hunting, What You Wear Matters. the Traditional Dress Code Is Highly Fetishized, with Hunters Agonising over the Correct Number and Position of Buttons That Should Adorn the Hunt Coat. Having a Ribbon on the Back of Your Hunting Cap Is a Serious Offence That Could Get You Sent Home Unless You Are Master or Huntsman and Ladies Should on No Account Combine Jodhpurs with Ratcatcher. You Get the Picture.

Mink hunting with packs of hounds started in the late 1970s. It has its roots in the summer bloodsport of otter hunting, which also took place across the country’s water courses during the summer months.

As we settle in for a long, hot summer the Hunt Saboteurs Association is launching a new T shirt in a very cool camouflage design.

You will hopefully have noticed from previous media releases that the HSA does so much more than support sabs out in the hunting field. Due to our singular work in the hunting fields, we collected evidence which has led to over twenty successful court cases against hunts since 2019. Our groups also use covert cameras and drones to protect animals and catch wildlife criminals in action. No-one else is doing this.

One of the brightest flames in Britain’s animal rights movement has gone out.

Karl Garside, Animal Liberation Front (ALF) activist , hunt saboteur and investigator has passed away aged 59 from heart disease. For more than four decades on the frontlines of the fight for animal liberation, Karl fearlessly took direct action to end animal abuse.

Animal Aid’s campaign to ban snares came about in an unusual – but very welcome – way, in that we were contacted by grassroots groups and individuals on the ground. They’d seen our decades-long campaign against shooting and asked if we’d help with the political side of an anti-snares campaign.