HUNT VIOLENCE: Phone smashed into sab’s face
This week saw yet more hunt violence as a saboteur was smashed in the face with a mobile phone and then trodden on by a horse. North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs were sabbing the infamous Blackmore and Sparkford Vale (BSV) on 10 December when they were faced with intimidation. The group reported: “A sab filming from […]
Another hunt down! Scotland’s Liddesdale Foxhounds folds
As 2024 comes to a close, Glasgow Hunt Saboteurs announced some great news: the Liddesdale Foxhounds has folded! The sabs reported on the Hunt Saboteurs Association website: “Little is known about the elusive Liddesdale Foxhounds despite them being one of the oldest fox hunts in Scotland. However, we do know that the Hunting with Dogs […]
Warwickshire Hunt member hospitalises hunt sab
A member of West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs was taken to hospital on Saturday 30 November after a Warwickshire Hunt rider deliberately rode his horse at her. The sabs posted a video of the incident on Facebook, showing the hunt galloping through a field. They reported: “The rider can be seen riding his horse at speed […]
After an ‘autumn of suffering’ for stags, hinds now face a winter of suffering
England’s remaining staghound packs, which operate in the southwest of the country, typically hunt mature stags between August and October before moving on to targeting hinds (female deer). This year, saboteur groups have reported that packs like the Quantock Staghounds began targeting hinds in November. However, they continued to hunt stags too. This means that […]
Listing the businesses that enable the Wynnstay Hunt
Based near Wrexham, the Wynnstay Hunt is one of the UK’s most lawbreaking hunts, regularly chasing and killing foxes. Many of its members and supporters have faced legal action, and the hunt is renowned for the violence of its staff and supporters towards monitors and sabs. Yet this notorious hunt is going out hunting several […]
Hunt sabs ask ‘What do the Kent Hounds have to hide?’
That time of year is coming up yet again, when hunts all over the country are gearing up for the annual PR stunt that is the Boxing Day meet. But East Kent Sabs has pointed out that one hunt seemingly has a lot to hide this Christmas. Kent Hounds is advising its riders not to […]
Beaufort Hunt issued with Community Resolution
Wiltshire Police has issued the Beaufort Hunt with a Community Resolution due to out of control hounds, just weeks after the Heythrop Hunt received a Community Resolution for the exact same issue. According to Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs, Beaufort staff are required to attend “awareness training” as part of the resolution – quite a come down […]
South Thames Hunt Sabs: sabbing the notorious Kent Hunt
Towards the end of September this year we were approached by a ‘new’ sab group: South Thames Hunt Sabs. Operating in the South of England and beyond, the group is ‘newly-formed’ but is (they told us) made up of a “team of dedicated individuals who collectively share a mixed skillset and an abundance of experience […]
Colin Tizzard: Famous racehorse trainer funding hare hunt
The latest hare hunting pack to emerge in the UK is the Dorset and Somerset Bassets. This hunt, which routinely breaks the law as it terrorises hares, is owned by famous racehorse trainer Colin Tizzard. Tizzard was a horse trainer from 1995 til 2022. Starting out as a dairy farmer, Tizzard’s Venn Farm then became […]
THUGS: Mendip Farmers Hunt terriermen beat up sab
A hunt saboteur was beaten up by Mendip Farmers Hunt terriermen on Thursday 21 November. She was taken to A&E for scans to rule out brain damage. The men also stole her handheld camera, as well as her body camera. The Mendip Hunt Saboteur was attacked by the terriermen as they attempted to dig out […]
HORRIFIC: South Dorset Hunt mutilates fox
Shocking footage, captured by Weymouth Animal Rights (WAR), is another stark reminder that hunters are driven by bloodlust and need to be urgently stopped by the Labour government. The sabs’ video clip, taken on 23 November, starts with hounds in brambles in a frenzy and ends with a heartbreaking closeup of a mutilated fox lying […]
GREAT NEWS! Scotland’s snare ban comes in to effect
It’s a massive victory for wildlife as Scotland’s snare ban comes into force on 25 November. The new legislation follows one year after Wales’ snare ban, while England continues to lag far behind both countries when it comes to the welfare of wildlife. Scotland banned snares back in March of this year as part of […]
Wynnstay Hunt using ‘dark and dirty tactics’ to bully monitors
It’s becoming an increasingly common scene – hired thugs employed by hunts to intimidate hunt saboteurs and monitors. The latest group to be targeted is Cheshire Borderland Monitors. They had already experienced various types of harassment over the past couple of hunting seasons, leading to convictions of people associated with the Wynnstay Hunt. In July […]
Hunt Havoc: Heythrop Hunt issued with Community Resolution
On 13 November, Gloucestershire Police’s Rural Crime Team announced that the Heythrop Hunt had been issued with a Community Resolution because of its out of control hounds. This is a small step for the police, but is significant because it shows that forces can take action if they are inclined to do so. The incident […]
LAMPING: Police share harrowing account of deer mutilation
Two men have been given a slap on the wrist at Lincoln magistrates court after a lamping incident in Lincolnshire. The men used a dog to hunt, maim and kill the deer in what police described as “a scene from a thriller”. Although relatively unknown compared with hunting with a pack of dogs, lamping is […]
Snares, hunts, and shoots: Billionaire duke’s vast estate no haven for wildlife
The Green Britain Foundation recently obtained undercover footage of a fox trapped in a snare on the Duke of Westminster’s estate in Cheshire. As the Mirror reported, activists who discovered and filmed the snared fox, released it. But they said many other snares were set in one wood alone on the 11,000 acre Eaton Estate. […]
Blackmore and Sparkford Vale hounds tear up fox in residential garden
Hunting hounds caused yet more havoc this week when the notorious Blackmore and Sparkford Vale’s dogs ran rampage in a residential garden, chasing and killing a fox. The heartbreaking incident took place in West Camel, Somerset, on 11 November. Footage was captured on the home’s security camera and given to North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs. The […]
Scotland: Jed Forest Hunt kills fox in front of sabs
Hunting with dogs is, supposedly, banned in Scotland. Hunts, however, continue to sidestep the country’s 2023 legislation. The Labour government is considering new hunting legislation in England and Wales: it needs to take note of the loopholes that hunts are using to continue killing. On 9 November 2024, Glasgow Hunt Saboteurs witnessed a fox kill […]
Cottesmore Hunt thug pleads guilty after terrorising saboteurs
A hired thug who made life hell for hunt saboteurs pleaded guilty in court on 6 November. David Fildes faced multiple charges after weeks of violence against sabs earlier in 2024. He will be sentenced in December. Northants Hunt Saboteurs stated that Fildes is the Cottesmore Hunt’s “main hired hunt thug”. The sabs reported: “He […]
Dozens of Britain’s top gardeners join pro-shooting media platform
The pro-hunting media site Scribehound recently launched a gardening ‘channel’. It lists some of the country’s most well-known gardeners among its contributors, including “the nation’s gardener,” Alan Titchmarsh, as Gardens Illustrated has described him. Scribehound is listed in Protect the Wild’s bloodbusiness database due to its overtly pro-hunting and shooting output and its founder being […]
GUILTY: Wynnstay terrierman sentenced for interfering with badger sett
Wynnstay Hunt terrierman Ryan Brennan has pleaded guilty to interfering with a badger sett in Shropshire. Blocking badger setts is illegal under the Protection of Badgers Act. Like every man who is found guilty of offences related to fox hunting, he avoided prison. The incident took place in January 2024. Brennan was given a ten-month […]
Drivers forced to slam on brakes as hunts cause ‘carnage’ on roads
Three Counties Hunt Saboteurs reported two incidents of hunts causing carnage on roads last week, risking both dogs’ and drivers’ lives. This should be a stark reminder to the Labour government: the Hunting Act needs urgently changing to ensure that hunts are prosecuted for their reckless behaviour. On 6 November, the sabs reported that Worcestershire […]
Horrific: Dog forced to fight wildlife loses bottom of his jaw
A man escaped prison on 7 November, despite inflicting the most horrific cruelty on three dogs in his care. 35-year-old Peter Bewsher, from Egremont, Cumbria, received a 12-week suspended sentence after forcing his dogs to fight wild mammals. Bewsher’s property was searched by the RSPCA and the police on 14 February 2024. What they found […]
Dorset vicar stands by hare hunters
Protect the Wild’s Blood Business website lists hundreds of businesses, organisations and land owners that are connected to hunting with dogs and/or shooting birds or mammals. Our latest entry, a church in Dorset, may surprise many people. St Peter’s Church is located in Purse Caundle, and the vicar, Reverend Canon Richard Hancock, was photographed this […]
‘Traumatising’: Gruesome footage shows Seavington Hunt tearing up fox
Two Counties Hunt Sabs have published gruesome footage from the Seavington Hunt’s opening meet, which took place on 26 October. The video shows a fox being caught by hounds and torn up, while the huntsman watches closely. A rider then throws the fox’s body into a nearby stream. (WARNING: Video shows a fox being killed) […]
Matt Western MP takes on the Countryside Alliance
It has been almost two years since Warwickshire Police issued the Warwickshire Hunt with a Community Protection Notice (CPN) for causing road chaos. Controversially, in August 2023 the force suddenly dropped the CPN, saying it had come to a private agreement with the hunt. MP Matt Western called it a “super scandal”. And now he […]
Undercover footage of raptor persecution ‘a game changer’
On 22 October Channel 4’s Alex Thomson introduced extraordinary video footage captured by the RSPB Investigations Team of three gamekeepers on a grouse moor in North Yorkshire, discussing (and then off-camera killing), a Hen Harrier. While that may not sound particularly ‘game changing’, what makes this footage especially important is that the audio quality is […]
Equipment Fund: Keeping up the pressure on Cheshire’s hunts
Twenty years after the passing of the Hunting Act there are still several hundred hunts going out with packs of hounds (and more often than not with a hardcore of badger baiters and dog fighters that make up hunt ‘terriermen’). Having tried to bludgeon the public and the authorities into submission and force repeal of […]
GUILTY AGAIN! West Norfolk Foxhounds men lose court appeal
Two West Norfolk Foxhounds men appeared in court again last week, this time to appeal hunting convictions. To their dismay, their attempt at overturning their guilty verdicts backfired. Their convictions were upheld on 18 October. Back on 19 July 2024, a judge convicted huntsman Edward “Mikey” Bell and whipper-in Andrew Egginton on two counts each […]
BOXING DAY: Winchester Council to close road enabling Hampshire Hunt to parade
Wildlife defenders campaign every year to try to stop Boxing Day hunt parades, but Winchester City Council has announced that not only will it close a road for the Hampshire Hunt, but that police will be deployed to protect the parade. It is astounding that in 2024, the archaic bloodsport of fox hunting is not […]
NORTHERN IRELAND: serial offender shows how court system failing animals
A man from Northern Ireland has been charged yet again with animal cruelty. His case is a prime example of how courts are failing to stop those with a bloodlust for killing animals. 36-year-old Neil Pinkerton didn’t show up at Newtownards court in County Down on 13 October, but his barrister told the District Judge […]
Mark Tiffin, man behind ‘Rose’ crowdfunder, is notorious badger baiter and terrierman
A recent GoFundMe crowdfunder to rescue a little dog called Rose captured the hearts of the public. Within hours, people had donated to save Rose, who was stuck 26ft inside a cliff. The current amount raised stands at a whopping £17,564. But the beneficiary of this money is a man called Mark Tiffin – a […]
Rehome the hounds!
Protect the Wild is launching an exciting new campaign to re-home the hounds! Hunting is on its last legs. To try and save it, the hunting industry is parroting the false narrative that its dogs would have to be put down if the bloodsport were made illegal. But the UK is a nation of dog […]
Hunt loses control of hounds, causing mayhem in village
On Monday 7 October, hounds caused chaos in the community of Oake, Somerset, as the Taunton Vale Harriers lost control of its hounds. This is yet another clear example of how hunts can not be trusted to take care of their dogs. Oake Parish Council issued a warning on Facebook to residents, saying: “AVOID OAKE… […]
Hunt kills a fox, then huntsman grabs a hare to throw to hounds
The Puckeridge and Essex Union Hunt killed a fox, then seemingly threw a hare to hounds, in one morning. Footage shared by East Herts Sabs will make any animal lover feel both sick and distressed. It shows huntsman Rhys Matcham getting off his horse, grabbing the hare, and riding off with her as hounds follow […]
Hunt member spared prison after sexually assaulting child
On 25 September, Devon County Hunt Saboteurs reported that a hunt member has been convicted of sexually assaulting a teenager, as well as sending sexual messages to a person who was pretending to be a child. The sabs wrote: “Andrew Webber, who owns Bartridge Farm in Umberleigh, regularly hosts and supports the Torrington Farmers Hunt […]
As the pheasant shooting season begins we reflect on how normalised shooting has become
Without any of the ludicrous fanfare surrounding the ‘Inglorious 12th’ but with 100 times the number of birds involved, today sees the opening shots fired in ‘the pheasant shooting season’. In England, Scotland, and Wales the ‘season’ ends four months later on 01 February, a month earlier in Northern Ireland. In that time millions of […]
GOOD NEWS! Businesses and council turn their backs on hunts
Protect the Wild has some exciting news! A number of businesses – and a council – have listened to calls to from the public and have made the decision not to host hunts. Public opinion matters. When we tell companies, landowners and councils what we think about their support of hunting, we can have a […]
GUILTY! Scotland terrierman convicted of interfering with badger sett
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 […]
45 years of Bern: The Convention that let down our badgers
The Bern Convention celebrated its 45th anniversary on 19 September. This treaty broke new ground when countries began signing it back in 1979, as it was the first international agreement to protect both wild species and their habitats. Through the years, Bern has proved instrumental in delivering protections to wildlife. It has also rolled out […]
Bloodbusiness now with MAPPING
Back in July, Protect the Wild launched a new website, bloodbusiness.info “a community-driven, fully searchable website that helps pro-wildlife people like ourselves choose where we spend our money based on our personal preferences.” What we’ve been creating since then is essentially a list of businesses that support in some way the ‘bloodbusiness’ industries of hunting […]
Sabs film criminal terriermen digging fox out of badger sett
A 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.
GREAT NEWS! MOD not licencing hunts on its land for 2024/25 season
The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) has announced that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has granted no trail hunting licences for the 2024/25 season. This will be crushing news to a hunting industry that is on its last legs. For those of us who have campaigned for years – members of the public, hunt saboteurs and […]
Hunt-hosting rugby club axes member after Boxing Day parade demo
Castle Cary Rugby Union Football Club in Somerset has terminated the membership of one of its longstanding supporters after she protested against its hosting of a hunt. The rugby club hosted the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt (BSV) on Boxing Day in 2023. The hunt used to hold its parade in Castle Cary town centre. […]
Violent terrierman convicted after police find dead otter in his freezer
A notorious hunter received a pitiful sentence on 2 September after he was found guilty under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Police raided Darren Fisher’s house on 26 February and found a dead otter in his freezer, as well as dead foxes in his garage. According to the BBC, the man is now a gamekeeper. […]
GUILTY! Another hunt supporter convicted of assault after twice punching saboteur
Marc Birney, a supporter of the Pytchley with Woodland Hunt, has been convicted of assault by beating after he attacked a North London Hunt Saboteur. The sabs reported: “Hunt supporter Birney, who was banned from driving after being convicted of drug driving in August 2023, launched the cowardly attack on our member as we disrupted […]
Reports
Reports Report: A Case for… Protect the Wild’s extensive research project into the observations and findings of hunt saboteur and monitor groups during both the 2022 -23 and 2023-24 hunting seasons. Our two reports utilise a combination of data from anti-hunting groups, public reports, and activist observations to evaluate the prevalence and impact of hunting […]
Hunts persecute 600 wild animals in a single season, 20 years after the ‘sport’ was outlawed
Protect the Wild has released a damning new report detailing the high levels of wildlife persecution that took place during the 2023/24 hunting season. A Case for a Proper Ban on Hunting shows that nearly 600 wild animals were chased or killed over the course of season, some two decades on from the hunting of […]
SHOCKING: Renowned Rewilding Knepp Estate hosts notorious hunt
The Knepp Wildland Estate describes itself as “a leading light in the conservation movement”, as “trailblazing”, and “rewilding pioneers”. Run by estate owner Charlie Burrell and his wife Isabella Tree, Knepp’s 3,500-acre rewilding project is impressive, with many declining species like Turtle Dove, White Admiral, and Nightingale all now thriving. A sighting in Cornwall this […]
DENIED: Council rejects Boxing Day parade for Dunston Harriers
Wymondham Town Council in Norfolk has rejected a request from the Dunston Harriers to hold a Boxing Day parade in the town centre this year. Councillors cited various reasons for the decision, including public opposition, damage to the town’s image, and health and safety concerns. The overwhelming feeling amongst those present – councillors and members […]
CHARLES CARTER: Police issue notorious hunter second Community Resolution Order
Wiltshire Police has issued Charles Carter, huntsman for the Royal Artillery Hunt (RAH), with a Community Resolution Order (CRO). The CRO is his second in 18 months, and was given to him after he assaulted a female hunt saboteur. The incident took place in February 2024. Salisbury Plain Hunt Saboteurs gave a detailed account of […]
Guest blog: Trail Liars, Recklessness and Observation and Flushing for Fun.
A few days ago, appalling footage of the Devon & Somerset Staghounds killing a stag emerged. The hunt had spent four hours on their ‘sport’ before the stag, exhausted and desperate, waded into a river to escape. Encircled and trapped, too weak to run any further, he was finally shot and his suffering over. (See […]
