HSA News
featured posts
latest news
Midlands Mink and Otter Hunt Stopped in Their Tracks
10/09/2025
On Saturday (6th September) hunt sabs shut down the Three Counties Mink Hounds in Warwickshire.
Sabs from the Nottingham, Severn Vale, Three Counties and West Midlands groups mobilised after receiving intel that the hunt would be meeting at Whitehouse Farm, Aston Cantlow in Warwickshire – the home of former hunt master, Mark Allen.
The hunt was stopped in their tracks less than half an hour after they started, moving south along the River Alne.
Private School Illegal Hare Hunt Stopped – Sabs Arrested – All Charges Dropped!
08/09/2025
All charges have been dropped against members of Severn Vale Hunt Saboteurs who were arrested back in January 2025 as they prevented illegal hunting by
Friends No More: The One Where Ross Leaves the BHSA
03/09/2025
It was the will-they, won’t-they, on-off relationship that had the nation gripped for months, but the HSA can exclusively reveal that the Herefordshire-based Ross Harriers have walked out on hunting’s regulatory body, the British Hound Sports Association.
Red Sky in the Morning: Partridge Shooting Season Commences
01/09/2025
Our annual campaign to disrupt the high-profile ‘Glorious 12th’ – the opening day of the gamebird shooting season – every August targeting the grouse moors
Countryside Alliance: More Money Than Sense
27/08/2025
As the government’s consultation on so-called ‘trail hunting’ edges ever closer, the increasingly desperate Countryside Alliance have launched a scheme where new members can nominate a hunt to receive fifty pounds from CA coffers.
Cubbing Takes A Drubbing From Sabs Across The Country
25/08/2025
This week has seen sabs across the country out in force while most people are still asleep. For many hunts, the cubbing season has now started. Sab groups have been keeping an eye on their local hunts and have reported that many of them, who would usually still be ‘hound exercising’, are instead now surrounding coverts and sending their hounds in to kill foxes. The early start to the cubbing season has come about largely due to farmers harvesting their crops early, as well as a sense amongst the hunting community that this could very well be their last season if Labour stick to their manifesto pledge to ban ‘trail hunting’.
Heightened Avian Influenza Risk Warning Issued
22/08/2025
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.
Hunt Sabs Mobilise Against the Cub Hunters
15/08/2025
Cubbing – the sick form of hunting used to train their new hounds – is already underway in parts of the country. Cubbing takes place in the early morning or late afternoon when the summer day is cooler, and the scenting conditions are better for inexperienced hounds.
Last Saturday, Devon County Hunt Sabs were tipped off about an evening cubbing meet of the Eggesford Hunt at Ingleigh Green.
Sabs Disrupt Shoots Across Moorlands On ‘Glorious Twelfth’
12/08/2025
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.
July 2025 Round Up
08/08/2025
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.
The Terror of Exmoor – Staghounds Return
06/08/2025
August has arrived and with it, the start of the heinous Autumn Staghunting season, which is the trophy hunting portion of the stag hunters’ “sport”. From August to November they target mature rutting stags, royal stags or greater, in the prime of their lives, forcing them to now run for their lives but hampered by their impressive spreads of antlers and heavy body condition following their summer feeding. They are not well adapted to long chases and with so many supporters eyes watching, there is nowhere for them to hide and recover.
‘Beagling Equivalent Of The Fox Hunter’s Cub-hunting’ Is Underway
04/08/2025
“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 law doesn’t stop hunts. Only hunt sabs do.
01/08/2025
A guest article by Devon County Hunt Sabs. Includes video footage of a dig out.
A few weeks ago we were informed by Devon & Cornwall Police that their investigation into one of several incidents we reported last season had concluded. The outcome is that Eggesford Hunt’s Danny Pearce has received a caution for interfering with a protected badger sett and using a terrier to dig out and kill a fox on land he and the hunt had no permission to be on. Pearce is a gamekeeper for Lord Stucley’s Affeton Estate, which also hosts the criminal Eggesford Hunt.
Dressed to Kill
30/07/2025
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 In Decline
28/07/2025
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.