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 […]
Chris Packham needs your help to get trail hunting banned
Chris Packham is calling on the public to raise a voice for nature by urging the Labour government to ban trail hunting. This is a type of hunting that is meant to serve as an alternative to chasing and killing wild animals. But as the wildlife TV presenter and conservationist points out, there is ample evidence […]
GOOD NEWS! Men from Blackmore and Sparkford Vale charged with illegal hunting
Four men from the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt (BSV) – the very same hunt we have been asking The Newt in Somerset to ban from meeting on their land – have been charged under Section 1 of the Hunting Act 2004, accused of hunting a wild mammal with dogs. The news comes just months […]
Protesters descend on fox hunting supporter Jeremy Clarkson
TV ‘personality’ and farmer Jeremy Clarkson has never hidden his contempt for Britain’s wildlife. After letting one of England’s most criminal hunts chase foxes and block badger setts on his land, protesters paid a visit to his company. Three Counties Hunt Saboteurs, Gloucestershire Badger Office, Cotswold Hunt Sabs, Cirencester Illegal Hunt Watch, Gloucestershire Badger Group […]
Two Essex and Suffolk Hunt men arrested for killing fox
Two hunters have been arrested and charged under the Hunting Act. Essex and Suffolk Hunt’s whipper-in, Jamie Price, along with huntsman Jack Henty, have been accused of illegal hunting on two separate occasions. Protect the Wild spoke to Suffolk Action for Wildlife (SAF), a group which consistently monitors the hunt. SAF said: “There were two […]
GUILTY: Criminal hunter Chris Woodward convicted three times since July
A court has found the Wynnstay Hunt’s notorious ex-huntsman Chris Woodward guilty yet again. Woodward is a man racking up a long criminal record. Woodward denied the charge of hunting a wild animal with dogs in Lower Wych, Wrexham, on 14 January 2023. But it was the hard work of Cheshire (Borderland) Monitors volunteers that […]
GUILTY: Ollie Finnegan convicted of illegal hunting three times in less than a year
Ex-Cheshire huntsman Ollie Finnegan was due to stand trial this week, charged with two counts of illegal hunting. He didn’t show up to court, and was found guilty in his absence. Finnegan was charged after being caught illegally fox hunting at a meet that took place at Chorley Green on 22 November 2022. The second […]
Disgraced hunter Ollie Finnegan fails to show up for court
Cheshire huntsman Ollie Finnegan failed to turn up at Crewe Magistrates Court on 13 June 2023. He was due to enter a plea to two charges of hunting a wild mammal with dogs. Cheshire Against Blood Sports (CABS) told Protect the Wild that Finnegan’s legal representation didn’t show up to court, either. The trial has […]
Kept Animals Bill was ditched to protect the hunting industry, Defra letter suggests
The government has dropped the Kept Animals Bill, which promised to alleviate some of the worst excesses of animal cruelty. And it dropped the bill to protect its mates in the hunting industry. When the government dropped the Kept Animals Bill, it provided a cryptic reason for doing so. Mark Spencer, Defra minister, claimed on […]
Cheshire Police have summoned a man to court on illegal hunting charges
Cheshire Police have issued a summons for a Northwich-based man to attend court on two illegal hunting charges. The unnamed man faces two charges under Section 1 of the Hunting Act. The first relates to an incident that occurred at Chorley Green on 22 November 2022. The second relates to an incident a few days […]
Norfolk police charge three men over viral footage hunting incident
Norfolk Constabulary has said that it’s filed a number of charges against three men from the West Norfolk Foxhounds over two hunting incidents in February. According to the police, the first of these incidents occurred at Tittleshall on 8 February, during which Norfolk/Suffolk Hunt Saboteurs said the West Norfolk Foxhounds chased a fox. The second […]
Another huntsman is guilty of illegal hunting. And this time he admitted to it.
Shaun Parish plead guilty to illegal hunting at Peterborough Magistrates Court on 11 May. He is huntsman for the now three-times convicted Fitzwilliam Hunt. Police brought charges against Parish after Peterborough Hunt Sabs filmed him hunting a fox near at Stibbington, Peterborough, on 5 March 2022. The sab group published the footage, which shows Parish […]
Hunt sabs publish ‘unique’ footage of stag hunted to exhaustion
Hunt saboteurs published footage of a stag that was so exhausted he laid down and allowed a human to sit next to him. The Quantock Staghounds had hunted the stag for several hours through the day. And this “unique” footage reveals the brutality of stag and deer hunting. On 17 April, North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs […]
Fernie Hunt: Magistrates find huntsman not guilty of illegal fox hunting
Leicester magistrates found a huntsman of the Fernie Hunt not guilty of illegally hunting a fox. The verdict came after the prosecution was unable to prove intent. BBC News reported that magistrates in Leicester found William Hanson not guilty on 28 March. Hanson is huntsman for the Fernie Hunt. He was charged in June 2022 […]
Dunston Harriers: Magistrates find three members not guilty of illegally hunting a hare
Great Yarmouth magistrates found three people connected with the Dunston Harriers not guilty of illegal hunting. Geoffrey Block, Josh Worthing-Hayes and Lewis Ryland each faced a Section 1 charge of illegal hunting. The charges date back to 18 January 2022, when a hunt monitor from Norfolk and Suffolk Against Live Quarry Hunting filmed the Dunston […]
Vale of White Horse Hunt: fox hunting case dropped due to police and CPS errors
Swindon magistrates dismissed the case against Duncan and Verity Drewett due to a series of apparent errors by Wiltshire Police and Wessex Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). Two people associated with the Vale of White Horse Hunt were due to have a trial at Swindon Magistrates’ court on 20 March. The case related to footage obtained […]
Police chief commends hunt saboteurs, saying illegal hunting is ‘prolific’
The Times reported on 11 February that senior police officer Matt Longman has described illegal hunting as “prolific”. Longman is a commander of Plymouth Police and, more relevantly, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for “Fox Hunting Crime”. The newspaper went on to report that Longman wants: “police forces to work with the “volunteers” who […]
HUNT HAVOC: Sab drone records moment hound almost hit on road
Surrey Hunt Sabs shared video filmed by a drone of hounds chasing what the group said was a fox. And it highlights why groups including Protect the Wild say the Hunting Act needs a recklessness clause. On 4 February, Surrey Hunt Sabs shared footage filmed earlier that day by its drone. It showed hounds running […]
Review into policing of hunts in North Wales finds focus on ‘public disorder’
A recently published review reveals the complexities of policing the Hunting Act in North Wales. And it shows that it’s high time for new legislation. On 12 January, Glyndwr University’s Social Inclusion Research Institute (Cyfiawnder) published a long-awaited review into policing of the Hunting Act in North Wales. As Protect the Wild previously covered, the […]
Ledbury Hunt continues to get away with murder.
In early December 2022, the ex-huntsman of the Quorn Hunt, Ollie Finnegan, pleaded guilty to hunting foxes after his own WhatsApp messages incriminated him. The Quorn had been visiting Gloucestershire for a joint meet with the Ledbury Hunt on 7 January 2022. But it was only Finnegan who was prosecuted, while staff from the Ledbury […]
Labour wants to eliminate the ‘trail hunting’ loophole if it gets into government
Labour says it will tighten the Hunting Act when it comes into government. The statement came after the party’s shadow minister for the armed forces said that he wants hunting “consigned to the history books”. On Boxing Day 2022, the Labour Party said it will “close the loopholes” that exist in the Hunting Act. Huffington […]
Damning text messages incriminate prominent fox hunter Ollie Finnegan
On 6 December 2022, Ollie Finnegan pleaded guilty to illegally hunting with dogs after WhatsApp messages, found on his phone, incriminated him. Finnegan was the huntsman for the Quorn Hunt on 7 January 2022. Police seized his phone after receiving reports of the Quorn illegally hunting a fox that day. ITV’s Rupert Evelyn attended court. […]
If foxhunting is banned why does it still take place?
If foxhunting is banned why does it still take place? Fox hunting in England and Wales was banned by Parliament when MPs passed the Hunting Act 2004. More precisely, all hunting of wild mammals with dogs was banned – including foxes. The Act came into force on the 18th of February 2005, so hunts were […]
What is the ‘research and observation’ loophole used to hunt deer?
England has three remaining staghound packs, two of which claim they carry out ‘research and observation’ as a cover to continue chasing and murdering deer. This is a smokescreen. But it’s permitted thanks to a glaring loophole in the Hunting Act. Schedule 1.9 of the Hunting Act is commonly known as the “research and observation […]
New laws targetting hare coursers will come into effect from August
New laws targetting hare coursers will come into effect from 1st August, timed to start with the next hare coursing ‘season’. NEW OFFENCES, NEW PENALTIES The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act brought in new laws aimed at giving police greater powers to tackle hare coursing (a wildlife crime under the Hunting Act 2004) and […]
Hunting Office backlash continues…
Hunting Office backlash continues… …leading to an even more undemocratic rearranging of the deckchairs Fox hunting had always assumed it was built on solid foundations. Little wonder really. For hundreds of years the ‘nobility’ ran packs of hounds out of stately homes, killing foxes across land their families owned (or rented out to tenant farmers), […]
Police appeal for identities of terriermen seen in undercover investigation
Police appeal for identities of terriermen seen in undercover investigation Police are searching for two men connected to alleged Hunting Act offences. And they’re asking for your help to find them. BOLTING A FOX Swindon Police are searching for two men seen in Hunt Investigation Team’s exposé of the Vale of White Horse Hunt. […]
