© 2024 Hunt Saboteurs Association
Hunt Saboteurs from the South West were today considering themselves lucky not to have been killed after they were attacked with an iron bar, whips and a pick axe at a joint meet of 2 hunts in Cornwall.
10 activists from Devon, Cornwall and Somerset had been present throughout the day near Goon Hill Down, Helston where the Cury and Western foxhunts had converged, and prevented the hunts from killing any foxes using our usual tactics of non-violent direct action.
During the day one saboteur had his ear split open when a hunt official in a red coat whipped him round the head.
Events took an even more serious turn in an alleged incident as the hunt packed up. A group of hunt supporters approached a car driven by one of the activists, smashed up its roof, used a wrecking bar on the body work and then, almost unbelievably, put a pick axe though the bonnet. The occupants of the car were lucky not to be seriously injured.
Spokesman for the Hunt Saboteurs Association, Nathan Brown, spoke of the incident: “The success of the sabs and the recent vote in the House of Commons must have inflamed tempers. There can be no justification for this aggravated attack which shows that people involved in hunting are far from a respectable minority – they are rural thugs and vandals.”
The government has announced a 6 month period of consultation to find a ‘compromise’ between an outright ban and allowing hunting to continue unregulated. Mr Brown continued: “There can be no compromise on the issue of cruelty. The government should honour the wishes of the majority. Two hunt saboteurs have already been killed at hunts, and many others injured.
“The government should stop wasting time and ban hunting before another protestor loses their life and to stop the pointless slaughter of thousands of foxes, hares and deer.”
The saboteurs are having to make an official complaint at Falmouth police station.
Ends.
Notes to Editors:-
Video footage will be available from 28th March.
We are the only organisation that works directly in the field to save wildlife through direct action.