police, Court and prosecutions
Steve Paul, terrier man for the BSV, appeared in Taunton Magistrates Court on 18th Sept, answering charges of assault. He is alleged to have kicked a sab and sprayed urine in her face. He pleaded guilty on a “basis”, saying that he sprayed her with water and didn’t kick her. The prosecution did not accept this, so another hearing will take place on 5th October.
The news from last week of the conviction of Ollie Finnegan (in his absence) was largely under reported. He was sentenced as follows: Fined £2,000 in total and ordered to pay court costs of £950. A criminal order lasting two years was made with the following provisions. ”….know and be able to evidence where a trail has been laid on the day of a trail hunt he is huntsman for and to be able to produce this when asked by a police officer.”
Keep the hounds under close control and must be in … sight at all times. Prohibitions are as follows. Finnegan must not
Have more than ten hounds on a trail hunt
Allow hounds onto private land unless the hunt [has permission to be there] and this must be written permission and in [his] possession.
Allow the hounds to enter a wooded area unless [he] can provide evidence that a trail has been laid.
The prohibitions may be a precedent that all trail hunts should be expected to adhere to.
CABS (Cheshire Against Blood Sports) should be applauded for the huge amount of work they put in in order to help get this conviction.
AAF was assured that the review of NPCC guidance to police on hunting would be finished by the start of the hunting season. With cub hunting and stag hunting already in full swing, we are asking where is this review? Is there a delay?
bad news for hunts
Sheffield Hunt Sabs reported recently that the Ecclesfield Beagles have folded. Hares in South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and the Peak District should be just that little bit safer. For most sab groups the last few weeks have been very demanding. The sabbing of moorland shoots, the prevention of fox cub killing, the renewal of the badger culling program, and now back to full on fox and stag hunting, have been very draining.
Relief has been felt in one area of Cheshire where it is thought that badger culling may not recur this year. That helps free resources for the other areas or activities.
hunt atrocities
The hounds of the Albrighton and Woodlands Hunt have been filmed savaging a Muntjac deer to death. Its screams are also recorded. It is disturbing footage.
More very disturbing footage can be seen on the Scottish Borders Hunt Sabs Facebook page where they show a stag that is clearly wounded by a shot from a hunter, following a herd in a river. The stag does not have the strength to leave the river and eventually sinks beneath the surface of the water.
On Sat 16th Sept, Surrey Hunt Monitors secretly filmed the Chiddingfold Leconfield and Cowdray Hunt at Stagpark Farm, Petworth. The hunt were blatantly cub hunting, and the intention of the participants is very clear indeed. A fox is seen running, a hunt member points it out and the huntsman deliberately brings the hounds to the line of the fox. The video shows a very special moment when the hunt realises they are being filmed. The unedited video has been sent to the police.
North Dorset Hunt Sabs report that the BSV (Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt) appear to be employing “thugs” to prevent sabs from witnessing their illegal activity. However, on Monday 18th Sept, while NDHS were observing the same hunt, the huntsman of the day actually prevented the hounds from chasing a fox, by standing on its line. The fox had run past the sabs, and the sabs were (of course) filming. This huntsman (Tom Riall) clearly wants to avoid a court case. However, the other huntsman (Anthony Mayo), is unbothered by this and prefers to risk everything (including a court case) to catch his fox. Sticking with the same hunt, Mr Mayo’s son Charlie is in court shortly, and Steve Paul (terrierman) was in court this week, both for assault on sabs.
campaigning news – and calls to action
AAF has created a new page on the website called Keyboard Warrior Actions. This is for anyone who has a spare moment to get something done, without leaving the house.
This anti hunting petition has nearly 50,000 signatures. It would be great if you could add to it. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/time-for-change-no-more-fox-hunting?
The corruption surrounding the withdrawal of the CPN for the Warwickshire Hunt is astonishing. West Midlands Hunt Sabs and AAF Midlands have a petition they would like us all to sign. It requests the police make available for public scrutiny the agreement supposedly written by the hunt which replaced the CPN that had previously been issued:
Link https://chng.it/fywhPRnVX6
Please continue to sign, even though the PCC panel meeting on 21st Sept discussed the issue and decided that the “protocol” would be kept secret and exempt from FOIs.
Boxing Day
The deadline for Boxing Day road closure applications is approaching – 26th September. If you want to challenge a Boxing Day Meet in your town, please make use of all of our resources. We will help if we can. But, as it is ESSENTIAL that any Boxing Day Meet challenges are locally driven, so we can’t do it for you, but we can help. We can also help you to remain anonymous locally (there is good reason to fear hunt intimidation) as you can use AAF as a shield (providing you adhere to our high standards of conduct).
Sabs and monitors are always witnessing and recording dangerous behaviour by the hunts on roads. AAF has a record of most of them, but what we NEED now is the effect these incidents have on witnesses. We’d like anyone who has witnessed an incident to tell us about it here. We will be producing a report exposing the failure of the relevant authorities to take action.
stag huntinG
The stag hunting season is in full swing now. Sabs have been trying to attend as many meets as possible. The week before last was blisteringly hot, but that didn’t prevent both the Quantock Stag Hounds and the Somerset and Dorset Stag Hounds from taking out horses and hounds, and running them all over Exmoor after stags. There have been a few examples of stags escaping the hunts by running into safe territory (where even “exempt hunting” is illegal), but not every stag has managed to escape.
corruption
The abandonment of the CPN for the Warwickshire Hunt absolutely reeked of corruption. And the hunters are still at it (unsurprisingly – they can’t play fair, as they’d lose). Now, the Countryside Alliance, the voice of the blood sport industry, are endorsing their favoured candidates for the National Trust council member elections.
Philip Gibbs
Violet Manners* (daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Rutland, owners of the Belvoir Hunt)
Michael Salter-Church
Philip Merricks.
Jonathan Sumption
*Manners’ sister, Eliza, was caught speeding in 2021, and tried to get out of paying the fine by saying she was penniless. Hilariously, Nots Hunt Sabs arranged a whip-round for her at a meet of the Belvoir. They raised 10p. The sabs’ video of the money collection is hilarious.
We wonder if they will declare their allegiances in their manifestoes.
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thank you to all the sab and monitor groups whose posts we have used to create Latest News. If we have got anything wrong, just let us know and we’ll change it.
info@actionagainstfoxhunting.org
