© 2025 Hunt Saboteurs Association
In the last few weeks hunt sabs have been particularly active against beagle and basset packs engaged in illegal hare hunting.
The De Burgh & North Essex Bassets – one of just six remaining basset packs – have been hit on three Saturdays in a row. On each occasion, the hunters put the hounds on leads as soon as sabs were spotted on the horizon. Also in the last couple of weeks, the Severn Vale Beagles and the Royal Agricultural College Beagles both scuttled back to their meets when confronted by Severn Vale Hunt Sabs.
Up north, the sudden appearance of Sheffield and Lincoln sabs was enough to shut down a meet of the Holme & Colne Valley Beagles before the hounds had even been unboxed. Elsewhere, a lone East Yorkshire Coast sab caused panic at a Hunsley Beacon Beagles meet, with the rattled beaglers first claiming they were “just out for a walk” before packing up sharpish.
If there is a problem with this spectacular sabbing success, it is that the sheer cruelty of hare hunting is rarely exposed.
That changed a couple of weeks ago, when West Mids Hunt Sabs captured ground-breaking drone footage of the Gloucester-based Dummer Beagles in action. The Dummer use quad bikes as part of their hunting set-up which obscured the sound of the drone, allowing an entire chase to be filmed as sabs raced inland to save the hare.
The video begins with the hounds being cast across a wide area as they search for their quarry. At the very last minute, a hare breaks cover – seemingly from under the feet of the hounds – and tears away. Initially, the hare’s superior speed allows her to put some distance between herself and the hounds as she runs through several fields and makes a right turn to avoid leaving her home range. However, the beagles are locked on to the hare’s scent and remorselessly track her across several ploughed fields. Fortunately, on this occasion the hounds lost the scent in a water-logged field.
But many such hunts do not end so well for the hare. Hunting beagles are bred for stamina rather than speed and they gradually wear the hare down over the course of 30 to 60 minutes. Hares are majestic animals, but a hard-hunted hare is a truly pitiful sight – her ears laid flat in terror, her body slicked with sweat and mud – as she is pushed beyond exhaustion.
An HSA spokesperson commented:
“As well as the six basset packs, there are around forty-five beagle packs still in existence. As the recent West Mids video shows, hare hunting is every bit as cruel as fox hunting and we continue to target the elusive and illegal hare hunters whenever we can.”
If you have any information on beagle or basset packs, please call our confidential hot line on:
07443 148 426
We are the only organisation that works directly in the field to save wildlife through direct action.