Yesterday, four members of the notorious Blackmore & Sparkford Vale Hunt were found guilty at Weymouth Magistrates Court of hunting a wild mammal with dogs in breach of the Hunting Act.
On this day in 2005 the Hunting Act came into force. It should have stopped the cruelty of hunting with hounds, but 20 years later hunts across the country are still chasing and killing foxes, hares and deer for fun. And often, hunt sabs are still the only people stopping them.
This week sees the 20 th anniversary of the enactment of the Hunting Act, an occasion marked by a special report on BBC’s Countryfile programme.
Viewers were treated to the sight of a hunt sab, an MP, and Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman – National Police Lead for Hunting with Hounds – all agreeing that illegal fox hunting was ‘widespread’ under the current Act.
A summary of events over the last month – it’s been a busy and intense start to the year for all our groups across the country.
The Hunt Saboteurs Association has teamed up with naturalist, environmental activist and TV presenter Chris Packham to shine a light on the cruelty and criminality rife within the hunting world.
The series of 20 hard-hitting videos are being released across the social media pages of Chris Packham and the HSA in a countdown to the festive hunting period, exposing many shocking aspects of present day hunting.
With many hunts having their opening meets last Saturday and the remainder due to meet this coming November 2 nd , the HSA is today releasing the second of three videos – filmed by hunters – showing the cruel and illegal practice of ‘bolting.’
The video opens with a group of hunters and hounds gathered on a distant hillside. At least one hunt terrierman can be seen banging a stick or spade on the ground – a common technique for frightening a fox into bolting from their underground refuge.
Following the HSA’s devastating exposure of the Axe Vale Harriers digging out a fox, we have been passed new video showing the Wrexham-based Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn Hunt using terriers to locate foxes in a badger sett.
Just two days before National Trail Hunting Day – the farcical event that has become known as Smokescreen Saturday – we release damning footage of what one of the participating hunts gets up to when police, politicians and journalists are not invited to attend.
The HSA is today urging our supporters to share the first of our hard-hitting election videos. Narrated by Chris Packham, the video attempts the impossible task of distilling the cruelty, criminality and chaos of hunting into just two minutes!
Pro-bloodsports group the British Hound Sports Association (BHSA) claims it will hold a ‘National Trail Hunting Day’ on Saturday 14th September 2024.
Right-minded citizens the nation over were shocked and appalled at footage broadcast last year on ITV News of a fox being eviscerated on a family patio by a pack of hounds.
Politicians of all parties frequently state that the issue of fox hunting produces some of their biggest mailbags. In this week of manifesto launches, the HSA takes a quick look at the major party’s positions on hunting.
Almost twenty years after the passing of the Hunting Act, the HSA today releases yet more clear-cut footage of illegal hunting. However, in a familiar sequence of events, the CPS failed to get this compelling case to court.
After much speculation the General Election has finally been called and will take place on 4th July 2024. With this comes a likely change in Government, and the biggest chance yet that the law will be changed to make the Hunting Act 2004 fit for purpose, actually banning the hunting of wild animals with a pack of hounds as it should have done 20 years ago.
Greg Baker, huntsman of the Carmarthenshire-based Llandeilo Farmers Hunt, was today sentenced to 20 weeks prison, suspended for 2 years, 150 hours of unpaid work plus a £150 surcharge after being found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to a number of animals. He did not receive a disqualification. When the RSPCA raided Baker’s squalid property, […]
Last Saturday, multiple sab groups mobilised to disrupt the final meet of the Devon & Somerset Staghounds on Exmoor. While several deer were saved, sabs were unable to prevent the death of one stag who was hunted to exhaustion.
More drama this week as the Avon Vale implosion is still being dragged out before the courts. This time, it was the turn of Tom Ledbury, an Avon Vale Hunt terrierman, who was sentenced this week to a 12 month community order requiring him to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work, for his role in a video which surfaced last year following raids conducted by RSPCA and police officers around the country including hunt kennels and the homes of ‘terriermen’.
If you’ve turned on the TV to see a hunting-related story over the past few years, it’s almost certainly been about one of the many illegal acts or animal cruelty offences carried out by hunts and the fanatics that follow them.
When the fox hunting old guard were scrambling to explain what they’d be doing after the Hunting Act came into force into 2005, they were keen to make sure everyone knew just how pointless “trail hunting” was, and how urgently they wanted to get back to the good old days of killing foxes legally.
19 years ago today the press assembled, sabs popped champagne corks and hunters spoke of outright defiance as a new law was enacted aimed at stopping the cruelty of hunting with hounds.
