As well as saving lives at dozens of foxhunts, sabs have had a good weekend against the elusive hare hunters.
In the southeast, SES and North London sabs hit the De Burgh & North Essex Bassets yet again. This hunt tend to put their hounds on leads when sabs appear, but even this wasn’t enough to stop them chasing hares this week! Fortunately, sabs were on hand to catch one of the hounds – who had run off after a hare with lead attached – before they got hopelessly lost.

Not too far away, South Coast and West Kent sabs were in action against the innocuous sounding ‘Downland Club’. In fact, this ‘club’ is an amalgamation of six older beagle packs whose members are amongst the most fanatical hare hunters in the country. As sabs arrived, hounds were in full cry on a hare, so sabs used voice calls and scent-dulling sprays to intervene. The furious huntsman tried to carry on for a while, but he and his cronies eventually threw in the towel and sloped off the pub to drown their sorrows.

Over in the southwest, the irrepressible Severn Vale sabs were joined by friends from Wiltshire, Bristol and Bath as they found the Royal Agriculture College Beagles at Chavenage House near Tetbury. On spotting sabs, the posh student hunters tried to lie low, but with a drone in the air and multiple foot teams on the ground, there was no hiding place. After a four-hour standoff, the hound van left for the kennels, leaving sabs free to check known meets of their next target…the Severn Vales Beagles.

Sure enough, the Severn Vale pack were soon found casting for hares in open fields at Hystfield – the venue for their opening meet this season – but, on spotting sabs, they headed back to the meet sharpish!

A Hunt Saboteurs Association spokesperson commented:
“The days of the hare-hunting beagle and basset packs hiding behind the higher profile of their red-coated foxhunting cousins are over. Across the country, more and more sab groups are taking on these hunts.
With the decline of the brown hare and routine law breaking from these packs, it’s high time that the Labour Government closes the loopholes in the Hunting Act that they hide behind. Until that time, hunt sabs will be in the fields stopping them.”
Support the groups involved:
SES
North London
South Coast
West Kent
Severn Vale
Wiltshire
Bristol
Bath