Newsbyte 20
- Labour Manifesto promises ban on trail hunting.
- Members of the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt due in court
- Action Against Staghunting raises over £3500 for legal advice
- Badger cull under threat
- Suffolk terrierman convicted of breaking CPN
- Members of dog fighting gang jailed
- West Midlands Hunt Sabs deliver evidence file to police
- Proof that BSV hunt on Newt owned land
- AAF Survey shows only 5% support for hunting with dogs among rural people
- Clean Boot Hunting Association offers hunting alternative
Top Stories
The Labour Manifesto promises that a new Labour Government will ban trail hunting. The Greens will close all the loopholes. The Conservatives will continue to support blood sports, as will Reform. The Lib Dems make no mention of it at all. The Monster Raving Loony Party also make no mention of wildlife, though they do say they will reduce inflation by giving everyone free pins.
Four members of the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt (the huntsman, whip and two terrier men) are due to appear at Poole Magistrates Court on Friday 28th June. Conal James McGrath, George Colin Pierce, Freddie Osborne and Andrew Osborne are charged with offences under the Hunting Act. The charges relate to the killing of a fox on Monday, 4 December 2023.
AAS (Action Against Staghunting) raised over £3500 to finance legal advice concerning “sporting rights”. The Crowdfunder target (£3000) was met in a under a fortnight. The stag hunts have access to land that does not belong to them, but they can use it to hunt because they own the sporting rights. AAS is challenging that, and hopes to find a way to help landowners keep the hunts from using their land without permission.
AAF has been conducting a Rural Survey in rural towns around the country. We needed to speak to at least 1000 rural people and ask them whether they support hunting with dogs. We made every effort to keep the survey fair, by asking random passers-by to contribute. We have now spoken to 1366 people, 1095 are rural. 983 of the rural people objected to hunting with dogs – this is 90%.
Clean Boot Hunting, the genuinely humane alternative to fox hunting, now has an official Hunting Association of its own. The people behind it are hoping to be able to offer help and advice to any hunt wishing to convert.
Sab action
The Scottish Border Hunt Sabs draw our attention to a Facebook entry showing that at the Appleby Horse Fair one horse was actually worked to death. The RSPCA would like anyone who can identify the driver of the cart pulled by the horse to contact them.
On Sat 15th the Dove Valley Mink Hunt was successfully sabbed by Nottingham, Sheffield, and Lincoln Hunt Sabs.
On Sunday 23/06/24, North Hants Hunt Sabs and Locals Against the Cottesmore, attended a kennels open day arranged by the Cottesmore Hunt. Using a megaphone from outside the venue, they informed punters of the real activities of the hunt. One protester, appearing in a dog costume, popped up over the fence and berated the hunt for shooting his brother. Interestingly, on 25th May, AAF carried out a survey of visitors to another fund raiser, this one for the North Cotswold Hunt in Broadway. Surprisingly, they discovered that out of the 58 people who responded to the survey, only 42 of them actually supported hunting with dogs. This is 72%.
court, Police and prosecutions
On 14th June, Robert Cundy, terrierman for the Essex and Suffolk Hunt, pleaded guilty to breaking a CPN (Community Protection Notice). The CPN was issued to him last year by Suffolk Police, because he repeatedly drove his quadbike towards sabs during hunts. Despite the CPN, Cundy continued to put people in danger with his quadbike and together with Suffolk Police’s Wildlife Crime Unit, Suffolk Action for Wildlife, gathered enough evidence to take him to court again, where he was convicted. SAF are very pleased with Suffolk Police’s support and help.
LACS report that a number of members of a dog fighting gang have been sent to jail for animal cruelty offences. Phillip Harris Ali was given a four year sentence and Stephen Albert Brown two years and six months. Bill Leadley and his wife Amy, whose premises were used for the fights, received, respectively, a four year sentence, a community order, and 200 hours unpaid work.
On June 20, West Midlands Hunt Sabs visited Warwickshire Police Headquarters to hand over a file of evidence detailing the dangerous behaviour of the Warwickshire Hunt. Unable to get anyone to receive the evidence, they then took it to Leamington Station. After that, they headed to the Police and Crime Panel Meeting, to catch up with Mr Seccombe (the pro hunt PCC who is believed to have influenced the force’s scandalous decision to drop the Community Protection Notice). Recently, Mr Seccombe has suggested that the scandal around fox hunting and the protocol the police established with the Hunt is a very minor local issue and not of interest to many of his electorate. West Midlands Hunt Sabs point out that it was of interest with a question raised in Parliament, and to Channel 4 News who highlighted the problem in one of their bulletins.
Campaigns and things to do (now)
NEW LEAFLET – AAF has a new leaflet for Action Against Hare Hunting. Also, cub hunting stickers are back in stock and have reverted to their larger size of A6. Order yours here: https://www.actionagainstfoxhunting.org/aaf-leaflets/
DORCHESTER DEMO – 1pm, Saturday July 13th, Dorchester, Pump Station. The march aims to raise public awareness of CUB HUNTING which will be starting very soon.
VIDEOS NEEDED – AAF is looking for slow-motion videos of people smashing hunt memorabilia. This may seem trivial, but cups, plates, glasses and so on, bearing pictures of jolly huntsman are a part of the glorification of fox hunting, and they need to be turned into smithereens. Send any videos to info@actionagainstfoxhunting.org
PREVIOUSLY – On June 17th, the League organised two ad vans to drive around London, displaying the “Time for Change” video. A fox joined the event, hurrying past the volunteers as they were posing for a photo. She did not stop, as she was extremely busy finding food for her babies. On June 22nd, many anti hunting groups and individuals joined the Restore Nature demo in London. The demo was an enormous success, with around 100,000 people attending.
AAF Outreach
Outreach is our business. We need to talk to people outside of Social Media. Standing in the street, talking to people about foxhunting is easier than you might think. Please contact Alyson Rogers, Outreach Advisor a.rogers@actionagainstfoxhunting.org and she will help you to everything you need.
