Recent drone footage showing the protracted pursuit of a fox by the Weston & Banwell with West Somerset Vale Hunt has received wide-spread media coverage. It reveals how the fox was relentlessly pursued – and attacked – by hounds, together with the active involvement of both mounted and foot followers.
This is some of the most blatant footage of illegal fox hunting ever recorded, yet the WBWSV have the nerve to call themselves a ‘trail hunt’ on their own website. In so doing, they are simply acting on guidance from the Countryside Alliance who have repeatedly advised that hunts should rebrand themselves as ‘trail hunts’ on their social media, website and other publicity materials. This tactic is part of the multi-faceted ‘smokescreen’ strategy designed to convince the public that trail hunting is a real and legitimate practice.
Such transparent deception no longer fools anyone except Avon & Somerset Police, who continue to harass hunt saboteurs and act as private security for the hunt.
Elsewhere on the website, the WBWSV describe themselves as “a very friendly Trail Hunt” – this from a hunt whose terriermen have beaten sabs with spades and whose supporters have broken into sab vehicles to attack the occupants!
Needless to say, hunt sabs have also witnessed illegal hunting every time they have attended a meet of the criminal WBWSV. Back in October 2019, sabs recovered the broken, ragged body of a fox near Cripps Bridge. Sabs were then attacked after hunt supporters blocked in their vehicle.
On 29th January 2023, the hunt chased and killed a fox near Draycott Moor, despite the best efforts of sabs to intervene. Sabs filmed as the body was bundled into the back of a quad and driven away, but found blood, guts and fur at the scene. A terrierman was later convicted after pushing a sab into a rhyne from his quad, but the killing of the fox remains unpunished.
Most recently, on 31st January 2024, the WBHWSV killed a fox in front of sabs on Mark Moor, just a few fields away from the 2019 kill site. On this occasion, the hunt sent a rider into the pack of baying hounds to retrieve the mangled body, but they bodged the clean-up job and sabs recovered the fox’s severed tail, hind legs, and several internal organs.
Violence and police incompetence will never deter hunt saboteurs, so please continue to support Mendip Hunt Sabs and Somerset Hunt sabs in their work against so-called ‘trail hunts.’
Please support the brave hunt saboteurs who obtained this footage:
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The government has launched a public consultation on Trail Hunting – this is our chance to stop cruel hunting for good. You can read the HSA’s guidance and take part in the consultation here. The deadline is 18th June 2026 – make sure your voice is heard.
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