On Saturday (29th October 2022), the Royal Artillery Hunt killed a fox on Ministry of Defence (MOD) land, pictured below by Moonraker Hunt Sabs who were present. This was at the opening meet of the season, at Larkhill Garrison on the Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.
This comes nearly a year to the day that the huntsman of the Royal Artillery Hunt, Charles Carter, was filmed hunting a fox at the very same meet.
Salisbury Plains Monitors and a member of Wiltshire Hunt Sabs were present, and they filmed Carter riding down a track behind a fox, blowing his hunting horn, with shouts of ‘on on on’ heard, to encourage hounds to follow.
The footage (some of which can be seen here) was passed on to MOD Police, who subsequently investigated Carter under section 1 of the Hunting Act 2004, before passing the evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service who made the decision to prosecute.
However, the prosecution was ‘discontinued due to a legal technicality’ as it was submitted to Swindon Magistrates Court a day late due to it being a bank holiday weekend.
The Royal Artillery Hunt is one of around 20 hunts across the UK that apply for licences to hunt on MOD land, mainly training ranges such as the Salisbury Plain where this occurred.
This is not an isolated incident. Hunt saboteurs and monitors have recorded a long list of incidents of hunting, violence, licence breaches on MOD land.
In the few weeks surrounding this, a number of notable incidents of illegal hunting, trespass and violence involving this hunt alone took place:
Despite all of this, the MOD is STILL granting licences to this hunt and others, and under the guise of ‘trail hunting’ they are still chasing and killing wildlife.
When these incidents and many more have been reported to the MOD by members of the public, monitors and sabs, they have been met with a wall of silence from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), the body responsible for managing the MOD estate and dealing with ‘trail hunting’ licences.
On top of this, in 2021 the MOD spent £121,000 revamping the Royal Artillery Hunt kennels, which are located on the Bulford Camp in Wiltshire, a move criticised by high ranking ex-military officers while there is such widespread disrepair in homes that service families are forced to live in.
At a time of such a squeeze on public finances and heightened threats to national security, it’s scandalous that the MOD is choosing to squander taxpayers money facilitating illegal hunting, a pastime for the privileged outlawed nearly 18 years ago.
Hunt saboteurs will continue to save wildlife and to expose hunts operating on MOD land. We are calling on Alex Chalk, the newly appointed Minister of State for Defence Procurement (responsible for the MOD estate, environment and sustainability) to break the cycle and stop issuing hunters with licences to kill.
Copy and paste the email below and send it to this address: alex.chalk.mp@parliament.uk
Please keep correspondence polite and related to the issue at hand, but do tailor the email to include anything else you feel is relevant.
Subject: Hunting on MOD land
Dear Mr Chalk,
I am writing to draw your attention to yet another fox that has been killed by a hunt on Ministry Of Defence land.
On 29th October 2022, the Royal Artillery Hunt killed a fox after meeting at Larkhill Garrison.
This comes almost a year to the day after hunt monitors filmed huntsman, Charles Carter, riding after a fox and blowing his hunting horn for hounds to give chase, at the same location. The MOD Police investigated this footage and passed it onto the Crown Prosecution Service, who in turn decided to prosecute under the Hunting Act 2004, with the case only avoiding being heard in court due to a legal timing technicality.
These incidents have not happened in isolation. In December 2021, anti-hunt activists were present when the hunt killed two more foxes on the Salisbury Plain Training Area. Other incidents involving this hunt can be seen listed here.
By granting licences for hunts to use MOD land, including the Royal Artillery Hunt who have recently been recorded killing wild animals on multiple occasions, I believe the Ministry is allowing hunters who continuously flout the law to act with impunity, and undermining the authority and public trust in the department.
Last year the MOD spent over £120,000 refurbishing the Royal Artillery’s hunting kennels. Our public finances, especially during the current domestic economic challenges and with ongoing conflict in Europe, should not be spent on maintaining buildings and facilities, and granting licences to organisations or individuals who believe themselves to be above the law.
‘Trail hunting’ is being used as a smokescreen for hunts to pursue and kill wildlife on MOD land, publicly owned land. This has to stop! I implore you to follow the example of Forestry England, the National Trust and several of our other largest landowners and stop issuing ‘trail hunt’ licences and to ban hunts from operating on MOD land, and I await your action on this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Picture credits: Salisbury Plain Monitors, Wiltshire Hunt Sabs, Surrey Hunt Sabs, Moonraker Hunt Sabs
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