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 […]

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 […]

A stag swims for his life before being brutally killed by hunters

A stag swims for his life and is then killed by the Devon and Somerset Staghounds. Photo by North Dorset Hunt Sabs

The Labour government needs to urgently act and ban hunting after more footage has revealed a hunt killing a stag. The deer was chased for more than four hours before desperately swimming for his life. He was then brutally killed. North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs were joined by Mendip Hunt Sabs as they tried to prevent […]

Footage of stag hunt reveals blatant lawbreaking by Devon and Somerset Staghounds

The team at Wildlife Guardian recently posted brief but evocative footage of part of a stag hunt that took place on the 7th of March near the three-hundred-acre League Against Cruel Sports’ Baronsdown Sanctuary on Exmoor. While the video isn’t as dramatic as some that have hit the internet this past ‘hunting season’, it encapsulates […]

Tiverton Staghounds dogs savage and kill pregnant alpaca

A pregnant alpaca named Ruby was attacked and killed by dogs from the Tiverton Staghounds on New Year’s Day. Her guardians, Lucy Aylett and Nick Stringer, said that the hunt had not informed them that they would be hunting that day, and that the hounds were clearly out of control. Lucy told DevonLive: “She was […]

Hunt saboteurs hospitalised by violent Quantock Stag Hounds riders

Quantock Stag Hounds attack sabs

On 27th November hunt saboteurs were attacked by riders of the Quantock Stag Hounds. They had to be taken to hospital to treat their injuries (see header image above). North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs are now requesting public donations to replace equipment damaged in the attack. The Quantock Stag Hounds are one of England’s most brutal […]

This is the solution to end stag hunting forever

Stag hunting is possibly the UK’s most gruesome blood sport. When the Hunting Act came into force in 2005, stag hunters evaded the ban by using different loopholes in the law to their fox hunting friends. Protect the Wild argues that in order to end stag hunting once and for all, we need a complete […]

The Secret Monitor: the depraved ‘supporters’ of the Quantock Stag Hounds

The Secret Monitor

Damaging stories from inside hunting, shooting, and the badger cull have been circulating for years, and there are always new ones waiting to be told. There is always someone watching, always someone listening. The Secret Monitor. In the second post of an occasional series, the Secret Monitor is in the west of England. Stag hunting […]

Stag killers no longer welcome in this Somerset pub

The Quantock Staghounds leave the Anchor Inn

Pub company Greene King has stated that the Anchor Inn in Exebridge will no longer host the Quantock Staghounds. This stand against hunting is a blow to the murderous industry. Huntpubs, a campaign that exposes the pubs and venues supporting illegal hunting, published an email on X (formerly Twitter). It had previously asked the public […]

The Secret Monitor: Dishing the dirt on stag hunting

The Secret Monitor

Damaging stories from inside hunting, shooting, and the badger cull have been circulating for years. Everything from breaking the law to assaults or harassment of monitors and the public and a police force seemingly happy to ‘look the other way’. But there is always someone watching, always someone listening. The Secret Monitor. In the first […]

Punching a horse is atrocious, but so is murdering fox cubs

Most people reading Protect the Wild already know this, but it bears being said. The media circus around Sarah Moulds highlights Britain’s broken relationship with other animals. When Hertfordshire Hunt Saboteurs filmed Moulds attacking a horse in November 2021, the footage went far and wide. Not only across anti-hunting social media but across the headlines […]

VICTORY: County Down Staghounds bites the dust

Hunt saboteurs in Northern Ireland are celebrating as news comes in that County Down Staghounds is disbanding. Hunt Saboteurs NI announced: “The criminal County Down Staghounds have decided to disband, their years of illegal carting, killing pets and causing horrific pain to wildlife is over. Good riddance you bunch of murdering scumbags.” Meanwhile, Action Against […]

Hunt sabs publish ‘unique’ footage of stag hunted to exhaustion

Stag killed by the Quantock Staghounds

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 […]

Gruesome footage highlights the criminality of England’s stag hunters

Quantock Stag Hounds load murdered stag onto quad bike

Quantock Staghounds (QSH) is one of the UK’s most brutal hunts. It continually murders Somerset’s stags with impunity, despite being caught on film. Now, recent footage – caught by North Dorset Hunt Sabs – is a stark reminder of just how criminal this hunt really is. The sabs’ footage – which you can view here […]

Prince Harry’s new book talks about the most ‘loathesome’ tradition in bloodsports

Prince Harry laughing

Celebrity magazine OK! reported on 10 January that in his autobiography Spare, Prince Harry recounts his experience of ‘blooding’. According to the celebrity magazine, the book describes Harry stalking then murdering a stag in the grounds of Balmoral. He was about 15 at the time. The prince’s stalking guide, Sandy, then bled the stag from […]

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 […]

The brutal reality of stag hunting

STAG HUNT QUANTOCK HILLS

The brutal reality of stag hunts and stag hunting Barbaric hunters on quad bikes and motorbikes, accompanied by hounds, chasing a stag to exhaustion. Hardly what you’d expect to see in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). But if you go for a walk on Somerset’s Quantock Hills, this is exactly what you might […]