The last few weeks have seen landmark court cases involving hare hunts, with the kennel huntsman of a private school beagle pack found guilty of illegal hunting after a hare was killed, and hunt sab’s footage securing the first ever conviction of a basset pack.
The conviction of Phillip Kennedy, kennel huntsman of the Stowe Beagles, comes after the hunt were caught on drone footage chasing and killing a hare in Northamptonshire, before congratulating each other with celebratory handshakes.
Charlie Ford, huntsman of the Dorset & Somerset Bassets, was convicted under the Hunting Act after hunt sabs and monitors filmed the bassets pursuing a hare while under his control in Dorset in October 2024.
The convictions show a glimpse of what hunt saboteurs have witnessed across the country for the last two decades: that despite being made illegal by the Hunting Act 2004, hare hunting is still happening all over the place.
The law & the loopholes
The latter case highlighted one of a number of loopholes in the Hunting Act that are cynically exploited by hunts to continue hunting as they did before this supposed ban.
In his police interview, Ford claimed he was hunting hedgerows with his pack of bassets to look for rabbits – which is legal within the Hunting Act, covered as one of a number of forms of ‘exempt hunting.’
Thankfully, due to the weight of evidence to the contrary provided by sabs and the work of the expert witness, this smokescreen was seen through by the court.
Sab footage clearly showed hounds being cast over the middle of open fields – a typical hare hunting tactic – and a hare being pursued.
While they can appear superficially similar, there are clear and fundamental differences between the two animals, both when going about their lives undisturbed and when they are being hunted.
As the expert witness in the case confirmed, rabbits would be “highly unlikely” to be in the middle of an open field during the daytime and would only be 15 to 20 yards from hedgerow burrows, which they would enter at the first sign of danger.
This is in direct contrast to hares who occupy a “form” – a shallow depression in the centre of a field – and rely on camouflage and speed to escape. A hunted hare will stay above ground and run from hounds, unfortunately the reason they are so zealously hunted, as they provide a ‘good chase’ for the hunt and supporters.
A convenient ruse
Far from an exceptional claim, this is a commonly used ruse by hare-hunting beagle and basset packs, with members of the public and police regularly told this is what they are doing if the hunts are challenged, arrogantly assuming that people can’t tell the difference.
This is something also claimed when sabs are present, usually in a bid to sow doubt on any footage that is captured.
But there’s another way that these hunts exploit this loophole. A member of Severn Vale Hunt Sabs, whose attention focuses on these packs in the west of England, told the HSA that they have seen a number of hunts use the ruse when they are present, changing from a traditional hare hunting set-up to a rabbit hunting set-up in a bid to avoid the former being seen and evidenced.
“One notable occurrence was at the (now merged) Leadon Vale Basset Hounds. We arrived to find a typical hare hunting set up: the huntsman working hounds through an open field, whippers-in at the field edges, and supporters on a hill in the same field with a good vantage point to watch any chase.”
“As soon as we entered the field and were spotted, everything changed. The huntsman immediately lifted the hounds, the whipper’s-in came from the field sides, and together they very quickly took the pack to a small, wooded area a field away.”
“The hunt staff loudly proclaimed that they were ‘legally hunting rabbits,’ obviously for the benefit of our cameras. The supporters however didn’t get the memo, and were left behind dumbfounded as the hunt then worked through hedgerows and wooded copses, with sabs in tow.”
“It was clearly a pre-planned response if the hunt got unwanted attention, a quick and convenient cover to disguise what had been up until our arrival illegal hunting. We’ve seen the same separately at other packs, including the Woolaston Bassets before the two hunts amalgamated.”
The need for change
It’s clear to all involved that the Government’s proposed ban on so-called ‘trail hunting’ is not enough by itself, leaving glaring holes that are readily exploited by law breaking hare hunts and meaning the cruel hunting of rabbits with packs of hounds will also continue.
If the law is to work as intended, even by the standards of the legislation passed over 20 years ago, then all forms of hunting currently exempted in the Hunting Act must be removed or covered in any new law. Until then, Hunt Sabs will continue to be in the fields defending hunted wildlife.
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