Sadist incriminates himself filming his dog killing deer
Yet another man has been prosecuted after encouraging his dog to torture and kill a wild animal, filming the whole sick event, and posting it on social media. 28-year-old Sampson Richards, from Penryn, Cornwall, pleaded guilty on 21 March to attempting to take, kill or injure a deer without lawful authority – an offence under […]
Hunt violence at sickening levels, new report shows
Protect the Wild recently published “Hunting: A Case for Change“, a 50-page report that offers a thorough examination of hunting practices during the 2022/23 season. The report focuses predominantly on fox, hare, and deer hunting in England and Wales. Author Glen Black utilised a combination of online data from anti-hunting groups, public reports, and activist […]
“Hunting: A Case for Change”: Likely thousands of hares hunted every year
Protect the Wild recently published “Hunting: A Case for Change“, a 50-page report that offers a thorough examination of hunting practices during the 2022/23 season. The report focusses predominantly on fox, hare, and deer hunting in England and Wales. Author Glen Black utilised a combination of online data from anti-hunting groups, public reports, and activist […]
North Yorkshire Council group likens hunting ban to Nazi Germany
An oversight committee for North Yorkshire Council has discussed banning hunts from council-owned land. Some campaigners were hopeful it would lead the council in the same direction as others in the country. However, hopes were dashed after the group said a ban would mirror “how Germany ended up in the 1930s”. Rich Maw, a Labour […]
We created a map of North Yorkshire showing what effect a council ban on hunting could have
A core committee of North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) will discuss a motion to ban hunting from council-owned land on 11 September. We’ve created a map to show how a ban might affect hunting in the county. Labour councillor Rich Maw originally proposed the motion for debate in July. However, the council failed to debate […]
Who’s got the ‘begging bowl’ out now?
Two recent incidents point to a yawning void in the world of hunting. First, fintech company SumUp put hunting on its shit list, meaning hunts can no longer use it as a transaction method. Second, the British Hound Sports Association (BHSA) published a video pleading for new members. Together, they expose the hunting industry’s financial […]
Police slap a newly merged hunt with an ‘ASBO’ before it’s even got going
Police in Hertfordshire have slapped the Puckeridge and Essex Union Hunt with a Community Protection Notice (CPN). The requirements of the notice are extensive and will hamper the pack’s week-to-week hunting. On 26 July, Hertfordshire Constabulary announced it had issued a CPN to the Puckeridge and Essex Union Hunt. The stipulations of the notice include […]
Police take no further action against Kent hunt that killed a fox in someone’s garden
Police have taken no further action against a hunt that killed a fox despite hunt saboteurs capturing the incident on video. On 14 January, the East Kent with West Street Hunt killed a fox in a residential garden in Westmarch, near Canterbury. As Protect the Wild reported at the time, hounds killed the fox after […]
Scottish court convicts Duke of Buccleuch’s Hunt supporter of assaulting a hunt saboteur
Jedburgh Sheriff Court convicted a Duke of Buccleuch’s Hunt supporter of assaulting a hunt saboteur during a meet in September 2022. Local paper Border Telegraph reported on 8 July that John Thomson plead guilty to two charges after spitting, shouting, and threatening to kill a member of Scottish Borders Hunt Saboteurs. The incident happened during […]
Freshly unearthed video shows former huntsman torturing a fox cub
On 21 June, the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) publicly shared footage of a man using a terrier to abuse a fox cub. It said the man in the footage was Oliver Thompson, the former huntsman of the Old Berkshire Hunt. The mobile phone footage first shows the man using a spade handle to roughly remove […]
Judge hands hit-and-run hunt supporter a suspended sentence
Angela Jarrom, who ran a hunt saboteur down in October 2022, pleaded guilty on 15 June. But the sab that was hit said her sentence will do little to cool acts of violence at hunt meets. Jarrom targetted Lisa Jaffray during a meet of the Cottesmore Hunt on 25 October 2022. After spotting Lisa, Jarrom […]
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 […]
Puckeridge Hunt escapes conviction despite judge finding its action ‘deeply suspicious’
Huntsman Arun Squire has escaped a conviction of illegal hunting. However, the judge recognised that it wasn’t his actions that got him off the charge, but the wording of the law itself. Squire appeared at Stevenage Magistrates Court on 15 and 16 May on a Section 1 Hunting Act charge. It came after hunt saboteurs […]
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 […]
The Telegraph published claims foxes are declining because they aren’t hunted – but why?
On 9 May, the Telegraph reported on a letter that claimed foxes are facing a “catastrophic decline”. The cause, the letter claimed, is the hunting ban. The claim is unsurprisingly questionable given where it came from. As outlined in the Canary, the letter was made available exclusively to the Telegraph, and it named only one […]
Chris Packham’s fundraiser highlights how wildlife killers try to operate in secret
Chris Packham is taking legal action against hunting and shooting industry media platform Fieldsports Channel. And you can donate to help him pursue the case in the courts. Unknown persons have targetted Chris Packham in recent years with a series of unsavoury acts. Someone strung dead crows up on his gate, for example, just months […]
CAMPAIGN: End Hunting on MoD land
Yesterday Protect the Wild launched a new petition-based campaign and a new animation: End Hunting on MoD (Ministry of Defence) Land. Within two hours our social media posts had been viewed almost 50k times, and by midday this morning over 5000 people had already signed our petition to the MoD calling on them to stop […]
PTW Equipment Fund: Cotswolds Hunt Sabs
This month Protect the Wild has been pleased to be able to respond to a request from Cotswolds Hunt Sabs (formerly the South West Hunt Sabs) for help topping up public donations they’d received to buy personal safety equipment to use in the field. As their name suggests the Cotswolds Hunt Sabs mostly sab hunts […]
Hunt thugs allegedly hospitalised a disabled man
An ambulance was called to help a man that said he was attacked by two men on a quad bike. The incident during a meet of the Worcestershire Hunt. Worcester News reported on 16 February that Mark Saddler was taken to hospital after he claimed that he was attacked by two men. The newspaper quoted […]
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 […]
Lewis Hamilton-fronting car company sponsoring fundraisers for hunts
Car manufacturer INEOS Automotive is sponsoring point-to-point horse races to show its support for the “countryside community”. The catch? They are organised by and raise money for criminal hunting. INEOS Automotive started its partnership with the Point-to-Point Authority in November 2021. The promotional material at the time said the car manufacturer was sponsoring the Mixed […]
Resident says an Essex hunt killed a fox on Ministry of Defence land after hearing ‘unmistakeable’ screeching
A resident near Colchester has reported that a fox ‘screeched’ as hounds killed them. The incident occurred during a meet of the Essex and Suffolk Hunt. And the whole thing took place on Ministry of Defence land. Local paper the Daily Standard reported that a resident of Berechurch, near Colchester in Essex, heard “screeching” on […]
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 […]
To survive we have to change the narrative
Headline statistics from the 2022 Biodiversity Conference (or COP15), which starts in Montreal today, are shocking. Over 1 million species are on the brink of extinction (an under-estimate as no-one knows how many species there actually are). Species are dying off at a frequency rate 1,000 times higher than before the arrival of humans. Wildlife […]
What is mink hunting?
Mink Hunting: what is it and what happens on a mink hunt Mink hunting with hounds only began in an organised way after Otters became a protected species across England and Wales in 1978. Otter hunting has a centuries-long history in the UK but has always been a relatively minor pursuit when compared to deer, […]
