Hunt behaviour

Last time, we reported on the appallingly squalid conditions in which the Bolebroke Beagles had to live, exposed by West Kent Hunt Sabs. The Border Hunt hounds are also having to survive in atrociously bad conditions. Filthy living conditions for hounds is not a new issue. The Kimblewick Hounds contracted bTB. In Aug 2018 The Times reported “Almost 100 foxhounds were put down after an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis swept through their dirty, overcrowded and dilapidated hunt kennels.” The hounds contracted the bTB through being fed fallen stock (dead sheep or cattle).
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In the last issue, we reported that the East Kent with West Street Hunt had booked Howfield Manor for their summer ball under a false name. When Howfield Manor found out who their customers really were, they cancelled it, saying that they were supporters of wildlife, and not of the hunt. It seems quite common for hunts to try and disguise the fact that they are actually fox-hunters. The Barlow Hunt, renamed themselves as Challenge Smeekley (and renamed their bank account for added good measure) for the family fun day , and for their money raising point to point.  Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt booked events under the name “Cary 2000“ which made them look as though they were something to do with Cary Town Council. No one should be surprised that lying and cheating comes naturally to people who have spent 18 years lying about whether they are hunting foxes or trail hunting.
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The stag hunts continue to hunt and several sab groups are giving them extra special attention. The Tiverton Staghounds, the Quantock Staghounds and the Devon and Somerset Staghounds are all getting plenty of undesired exposure from the sab groups. Herefordshire Hunt Sabs report that the killer of a stag discharged his weapon in the direction of the sab. Devon County Hunt Sabs have footage of the incident.
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The restart of the hunting of mink and otter is imminent. Sab groups are braced for more of the same.
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Peterborough Hunt Sabs reported on Saturday that James King from the Quorn Hunt rode the horse, Envoye Special, to its death on Thursday 13th in one of the Grand National Festival’s races named, Foxhunters Chase. Scottish Borders Hunt Sabs report that Ryan Mania of the Berwickshire Hunt rode Hill Sixteen to its death, (and Hill Sixteen’s trainer blamed the protesters).

Problems for the Hunts

The Avon Vale Hunt, the hunt that released two foxes in front of the hounds has lost its appeal to the hunt governing body and remains suspended. It doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the hunt as they could become independent, although that could be very difficult for them.

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On Tuesday 18/04/23, Alex Thompson of Channel 4 news presented an exposé on fox hunting. It seemed to be more honest than most of the reports that we have seen on television before and fairly clearly indicated an understanding that trail hunting was a lie, and that foxhunting was ubiquitous. He concludes the item with this: “More than 200 hunts enjoy 12000 days of legal hunting every year. The problem is, some of it plainly isn’t.”

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The Channel 4 news item included reference to the Royal Artillery (RA) Hunt chasing deer with hounds dangerously out of control. The RA Hunt advised Channel 4 that the police had investigated it and there was no case to answer. Wiltshire Hunt Sabs, being right on the ball, have already responded to this. The Royal Artillery hunt lied to Channel 4 news. They did in fact break the bylaws and had been given an official warning by the Ministry of Defence Police. The warning specifically names Charles Carter and Guy Loader of the RA Hunt. Additionally, in the news item, the BHSA (British Hound Sports Association) quoted from the report on policing fox hunting, commissioned by the PCC for North Wales, saying sab videos were “heavily edited”. AAF asked the writers of the report how many videos they saw before they came to this conclusion, and they could not say, but it was fewer than 10, and ONLY for North Wales. This TINY snapshot is obviously not representative at all.
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A BBC News article, published on 26th April, focussed on the hunt sab (Rachel) who was deliberately trampled by a horse on 11th Feb. The article went on to list other recent incidents involving hunts – a fox killed in a garden in Norfolk and a sab being run over while monitoring the Cottesmore Hunt. All three incidents are supported by clear video evidence (the Norfolk kill was captured on the owner’s CCTV), but the Countryside Alliance still claim that sabs are just making it all up. 
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ITV, Channel 4 and BBC are all covering anti-hunt news now. Even if you are stupid enough to believe the hunts are “legally hunting”, there is no denying their unpopularity and the risk they pose to wildlife every time they go out. 
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Next season the West Somerset Beagles are to merge with the Ilminster Beagles. In fact the newly named Ilminster and West Somerset Beagles will represent the amalgamation (over the passage of time) of five packs.
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Politics and Hunting

Locals Against the Mendip Farmers Hunt report that Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg‘s seat is no longer an assured win for him at the next election as a poll by the London Economic shows Labour has 38% of the vote, Conservative has 34% and LibDem has 20%. It would be nice for that constituency to have an MP that knows the difference between right and wrong.
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Police

North Dorset Hunt Sabs report of an attack by Andrew Osborne on a female sab after he had followed her around all day and then threw her into a ditch, rifled through her pockets and stole the radio. Avon and Somerset Police have recently assured AAF that they take assaults seriously.  NDHS however, are not impressed with the police’s response to this incident.
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The public and hunting

Those that are willing to take the anti-hunt message onto the streets (like the AAF) say that the public response to them has altered over the last five years. Pro-hunt people no longer walk past sniggering, or with cameras, or generally trying to intimidate but prefer to keep a low profile. The pro-hunt percentage of the population might be as little as 7% which does make the campaigning a little bit easier.
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We are expecting more court news including the sentence to be passed on Chris Mardles from the Quorn Hunt, who has already pleaded guilty to Section 8 GBH. He was due for sentencing on Tuesday 25th.

Action Against Foxhunting News

We have all been upset by the videos and images the sab groups have collected of stag hunts. We didn’t realise that even though stag hunts only use two dogs at a time, the other 28 dogs are replaced with blood-thirsty human beings, with radios, pointing fingers and excited hollering. They are hell-bent on contributing to, and observing, a wild animal being chased to exhaustion, shot and then carved up into bits. These people have no mercy, and no humanity. We can’t just sit back and let it happen, so we are creating a sister group to AAF, called Action Against Staghunting (AAS). We don’t know a great deal about stag hunting yet, (we will; we learn fast) but we do know a great deal about campaigning and we will use everything we have to support the sabs in bringing the stag hunts down.