Hunting-related court convictions are becoming a very regular occurrence! This time, a Scottish terrierman has been found guilty at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, Fife, for interfering with a badger sett.
51-year-old Dylan Boyle from the Berwickshire and Fife Hunts was convicted on 13 September, despite pleading not guilty to two charges of digging and blocking the sett. A League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) investigator filmed the incident, which took place in January 2023 at Cunnoquhie West Hill near Cupar. LACS footage clearly shows the man digging into the sett to get to a fox. He also forced his terrier to enter the sett, and obstructed entrances. A fox escaped, but Boyle shot and killed her.
Incredibly, a further three charges – relating to the killing of the fox and the entering of the dog into the sett – were dropped due to apparent insufficient evidence.
Ben Pacholek, wildlife and environmental crime officer for Police Scotland, said:
“There was clear evidence that the badger sett was active and under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 it is illegal to damage a badger sett, to obstruct access to a sett and to allow a dog to enter a sett.
Boyle acted in a reckless and deplorable manner, causing damage at an active badger sett and placing his terrier in danger of harm by allowing it to enter the sett.”
LACS’s Robbie Marsland said:
“I’m very pleased that the League Against Cruel Sports’ vigilant fieldworkers were able to provide Police Scotland with video evidence that led to this successful conviction. Crimes against wildlife are all too common in Scotland and I hope this case will serve to remind people like Mr Boyle that our cameras can be anywhere.”
Are Scottish hunts still getting away with it?
Scotland changed its law in 2023 when it brought in the Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act. This made it it illegal to flush out a wild animal with more than two dogs, ending hunting with hounds as we know it – at least in theory. Campaigners described it as a “landmark moment” when the Bill passed in January 2023. Police officers could finally enforce the Act in October 2023, after NatureScot finalised a licensing scheme to “allow farmers and other land managers to use more than two dogs, in limited circumstances, for appropriate and humane wildlife control.”
In August 2024, Protect the Wild reported on Scottish hunts that are bypassing the law by using this licensing scheme. Glen Black wrote:
“On 23 August, the Daily Record reported on concerns from League Against Cruel Sports Scotland that hunts are exploiting the licencing system introduced by the Hunting with Dogs Act. It reported that NatureScot (the department of the Scottish government that deals with almost all species licensing in Scotland) had issued over 40 licences under the new law between November 2023 and April 2024. In 31 of these licences, the use of more than 20 dogs was permitted.”
We need a better law in England and Wales
Before getting into power, Labour made a manifesto promise that it would strengthen the Hunting Act and get rid of the trail hunting loophole used by hunts in England and Wales. As it considers a ban, Protect the Wild urges Westminster politicians to carefully study the case of Scotland so that it doesn’t make the same mistakes.
It is time for change. It is time for the Hunting of Mammals Bill: a PROPER ban on hunting. Protect the Wild’s Hunting of Mammals Bill would replace the Hunting Act 2004. And if passed, this new law would provide a comprehensive ban on all forms of hunting with hounds, with no exemptions or loopholes that can be exploited by hunts. It would provide clarity and simplicity, making it easier for the police and the courts to prosecute those who break the law. It would criminalise the smokescreen that is trail hunting and would spell the end of fox, deer, hare and mink hunting, as well as hare coursing, in England and Wales.
