The Hunt Saboteurs Association has released footage, showing the REAL face of fox hunting.
The video, exposing the Axe Vale Harriers, was filmed by Devon County Hunt Saboteurs and Mendip Hunt Saboteurs on 13 March 2024. It shows terriermen digging out a badger sett to get to a fox, who has hidden underground from the hunt. Despite being threatened by the hunters, the sabs manage to film the men close-up – whose bloodlust seemingly overrides their fear of being filmed and, hopefully, prosecuted.
Interfering with a badger sett is illegal under the Protection of Badgers Act – which will be common knowledge to terriermen. But this doesn’t deter them from digging deep into the earth, then grabbing the terrified and injured fox, and throwing her into the air. Shortly after, one man grabs a terrier out of the hole, hides the dog from the camera and bundles him into a box on a quad bike. Terriers are a key part of ‘traditional’ hunting – the dogs are sent underground to either draw a fox out of hiding or to hold her at bay.
It is unknown whether the fox survives, although she does manage to escape.
One sab is heard on film saying to a terrierman:
“Hey, you’ve got blood all over your top, look. Oh, look at that blood on your coat. All over your hands as well. Disgusting.”
National Trail Hunting Day
The Hunt Saboteurs Association stated:
“The Axe Vale Harriers are a member pack of the British Hound Sports Association [BHSA], the discredited body that supposedly regulates hunting. In less than 48 hours, this hunt is due to participate in the BHSA’s National Trail Hunting Day – a series of open events designed to fool the public into believing that trail hunting is a real and legitimate activity. This sickening video shows – yet again – that hunts are nothing more than rural OCGs – Organised Crime Gangs.”
Trail hunting demonstrations are set to take place all over the country this weekend as the hunting industry desperately tries to prove to the government that it shouldn’t strengthen the Hunting Act. But as this footage – and countless other footage from sabs and monitors – shows, hunts have been flouting the law for 20 years, stopping at nothing to get their kills. Their use of terriermen is evidence of their illegal activity: because terriermen are never needed if the hunt is truly following a trail.
Chris Packham commented on the footage, saying:
“You think you’ve seen depravity and cruelty? Then watch these vile inhuman wretches at their evil. Every one of them is breaking the law with their degenerate savagery. This must stop. The government must act now to end hunting with dogs – no excuses, no loopholes, no more wildlife wasted for their sick pleasure.
Damn them.”
Other harrowing footage
The hunting industry must be fuming as it spends money and effort trying to convince Labour politicians and journalists alike that hunters don’t break the law. This footage is the latest to cause a massive stir: recently other disgusting fox hunting incidents have made national news.
Back in February 2023, a video was published by the Hunt Saboteurs Association and shown on ITV News. That footage shows three men from the Avon Vale Hunt leaning into a freshly dug hole in a field, with one man pulling a terrier out. One man then pulls out a fox, who is dropped into the pack of hounds just as a second fox escapes from a hole, causing the pack to then chase after the second fox. The footage caused an outcry when it was aired, and led to the BHSA permanently expelling the Avon Vale.
Then in March 2023, more harrowing footage, captured by Cirencester Illegal Hunt Watch on Saturday 18 March, was shown on Channel 4 News. This video shows a vixen being rescued after being tied up in a sack and then buried alive by the Cotswold Hunt. The BHSA was forced once again to take action against its own, suspending the hunt.
And in January 2024, drone footage was aired on Channel 4 News, showing the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt ripping up a fox. The exposé caused outrage as the nation was once again shown the gruesome truth about fox hunting. The footage shows a fox being chased and seeking cover in a barn, while hunt members and hounds surround the building. The footage then shows the fox running away, but quickly being caught by hounds and ripped apart. The hunt master and other staff watch on, doing nothing to call the hounds off. They retrieve the fox’s mauled body after the attack, presumably to get rid of the evidence. Four men are being prosecuted for their actions.
Labour must ban hunting for good
Protect the Wild’s report on the 2023/24 season, A Case for a Proper Ban on Hunting, highlighted that hunts will often continue like there is no ban if they believe they’re away from prying eyes. The video of the Axe Vale Harriers, a hunt that otherwise goes relatively unobserved, is a testament to that.
