Twenty years 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.

Aniseed and Antis: CountryFile covers the Hunting Act!

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.

Hunt Sabs and Chris Packham collaborate to highlight hunt criminality

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.

Bolted and Hunted: The Truth Behind Trail 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.

Game, Sett, Match: Convicted Fox Hunt Caught Out Again

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.

Horrific Video Blows the Lid off National Trail Hunting Day

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.

HSA And Chris Packham Release Damning Video

end hunting for good

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!

Fox Hunting – Where Do They Stand?

hunting ban manifestos

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.

Four Things The Next Government Must Do To End Hunt Cruelty

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.

Guilty! Fox Hunter Sentenced For Multiple Animal Cruelty Offences

Llandeilo

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, […]

Stag Hunting: A Marathon Of Cruelty

hunted to exhaustion

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.

Avon Vale Hunt – Keeping Magistrates Busy!

Tom Ledbury (far right) supervises a dig out of a fox to be thrown to hounds as a young child looks on.

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’.  

More Bluff And Bluster From Hunting Leadership

channel 4

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.

Trail Hunting: It’s A Pack Of Lies

On yer bike - nobody believes trail hunting is real. ©West Yorkshire Hunt Sabs

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.

The Hunting Ban – 19 years on…

sab holds sign saying it's over

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.