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 […]
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 […]
SURVEY: Just 18% of public believe trail hunting is NOT a smokescreen
A new survey taken earlier this month has revealed that only 18% of the public believes that trail hunting is NOT a smokescreen to get around the ban on hunting wild animals with dogs. The majority of the public also believes there must be stronger legislation to protect wildlife. The poll, carried out by Survation […]
Good news! Another hunt folds just days after Labour takes power
Fantastic news is coming in before the 2024/25 hunting ‘season’ even starts: the Monmouthshire and Valley Beagles (M&VB), which used to hunt hares, has disbanded. The M&VB itself was formed from the amalgamation of two separate beagle packs in 2015, the Merthyr Tydfil-based Valley Beagles and the Monmouthshire Beagles. The hunt chased and killed Brown […]
Is the Chepstow Show inviting hunts again?
It looked for a while that organisers of the Chepstow Show – keen to avoid a repeat of the tricky questions they received last year about Hunts parading in the ‘Main Ring’ – had come up with a cunning plan. Leaked minutes from a planning committee meeting in February suggested that they would invite the […]
Ten reasons why 2023 was a good year for wildlife
For those of us who love wildlife, it is easy to fall into despair when we read reports of foxes being killed and birds of prey being poisoned. Many of us will need a reminder that positive events happened in 2023! As the year comes to a close, we give ten reasons why this was […]
Another hare hunting pack has reportedly folded
The Hunt Saboteurs Association reported on 28 June that the Leadon Vale Basset Hounds had folded. It said the pack, which was one of the few remaining basset packs in the country, had come under increasing pressure by sab groups in recent years. And its demise is a sign of the times for hare hunting. […]
West Midland Hunt Sab receives payout from police who posed as postal workers in dawn raid
A member of West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs has received a “substantial payout” after being targeted by Thames Valley Police (TVP). The sab took a civil case against the police for false imprisonment, assault, trespass and aggravated damages. TVP was given false information by a member of Warwickshire Beagles, which it was all too ready to […]
GOOD NEWS: Two Somerset beagle packs to merge
The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) have reported that two Somerset beagle packs are merging. And it says it’s another sign that the pastime is in “terminal decline”. On 24 April, the HSA said that the Ilminster Beagles and West Somerset Beagles will merge for the 2023/23 season. The new pack will take the name Ilminster […]
First convictions using new hare coursing laws show fresh legislation is possible
New anti-hare coursing legislation came into effect last summer. We’re now seeing the first prosecutions under that law. And it shows courts can have an impact on wildlife crime – if the government wants them to. Police gained new powers to deal with hare coursing on 1 August 2022. As part of the far-reaching and […]
Hunt monitors are urgently calling for people to oppose the Ilminster Beagle Festival
The Ilminster Beagle Festival is well underway in south Somerset. The secret event is well-guarded by organisers, and is rarely seen by the public because of its remote location. Hunt monitors are calling for people to oppose the last few days of the meet, which runs until Sunday 12 March. Beagling is the cruel sport […]
Hare hunting: what is it and how is it stopped?
Hare hunting is less common and less well-known than fox hunting. However, it still occurs across the UK every week. Hare hunting is distinct from coursing in its use of scent hounds such as beagles and harriers; coursing uses sight hounds such as greyhounds and salukis. So what is hare hunting and how is it […]
Hare coursing and hare hunting – is there police bias?
Hare coursing and hare hunting – is there police bias? During a Westminster Hall debate on a pair of anti-hunting petitions promoted by Protect the Wild, the under-secretary for environment Rebecca Pow said that the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act would bring in new legislation that would “genuinely help [police] as regards any hare […]
