Hunt monitors urging us to complain about Horse & Hound magazineArticle on Wynnstay Hunt misleads by ommission
Hunt monitors are asking people to complain about Horse & Hound's recent cover story, which misleads its readers about the criminal Wynnstay Hunt.The 'struggling hunt propaganda' publication's feature article, written by Oliver Townend (whose website says he is the World Number One Event Rider and stresses the importance of his sponsors), waxes poetic about the hunt, its staff, and about hunting itself. But the magazine fails to mention the string of court cases and convictions that Wynnstay Hunt staff have recently faced. Cheshire Borderland Monitors, a group that regularly keeps tabs on the hunt on the ground, argues that Horse & Hound is breaching a publishing code of conduct. The monitors state:
IPSO describes the Code as “the cornerstone of the system of voluntary self-regulation to which they have made a binding contractual commitment. It balances both the rights of the individual and the public's right to know.” Misleading by omissionWhile Townend romanticises his day of jumping metal gates with the Wynnstay's new huntsman Henry Bailey, he keeps quiet about the hunt's disgraced ex-huntsman Chris Woodward, who was convicted three times in 2023 because of his actions at hunt meets. In December 2023, Woodward was found guilty of hunting a wild animal with dogs in an incident which led the prosecutor to say:
Just months before that, in August 2023, Woodward pleaded guilty to interfering with a badger sett near Malpas, north Wales. He and whipper-in Charlie Young were caught on film blocking the sett so that foxes couldn’t run into them to escape being hunted. And in July 2023 Woodward pleaded guilty to causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress after he rode his horse at a Cheshire Borderland Monitors volunteer. On top of all this, the monitors say that the hunt is currently being investigated by the police for more crimes under the Hunting Act. Cheshire Borderland Monitors argues that:
Trail hunting...?The Wynnstay's hounds should be following an artificial scent trail laid in advance of the hunt rather than the line of a fox. Despite this, Townend repeatedly uses phrases that imply - although don't explicitly say - that the Wynnstay hunts illegally. This is, perhaps, unsurprising since monitors consistently catch this hunt breaking the law, sometimes resulting in the convictions we mentioned above.
In his article, Townend refers to how he has been "autumn hunting with the Wynnstay a few times". In more explicit language, 'autumn hunting' is simply 'cubbing': the illegal practice of hunting young fox cubs. The author also talks about jumping a hanging metal gate onto a road, while photos with the article show hounds running through floodwaters: not the kind of routes you would expect hounds to take if they were following a scent trail. But most worryingly, the author writes:
In hunting terms, 'drawing a covert' is where the huntsman will put the hounds into a wood to pick up an animal's scent. It is, of course, ludicrous that Bailey is using such terms when his hounds should be following a pre-laid trail. This quote also demonstrates how brazen the Wynnstay is as it continues to break the law. Monitors urge you to write to the IPSOCheshire Borderland Monitors is asking wildlife defenders to take action. The group says:
Indeed, included in the IPSO's Code of Practice is the clause of accuracy: that the Press "must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or images..." But the IPSO has stated to at least one complainant that the concerns raised by Cheshire Borderland Monitors:
The body states that this is because:
However, it went on to say:
The Wynnstay has likely been suffering as a result of 2023's multiple court cases, as well as the resulting negative press and social media coverage. As the hunt attempts to save face and change the narrative, a feature in the pro-hunting magazine Horse & Hound - which neglects to mention criminal convictions - is timely, to say the least Whether IPSO thinks Horse & Hound has broken their Code of Practice or not, the publication has promoted a hunt whose staff repeatedly appeared in court last year and it appears to be supporting illegal fox hunting and cubbing. Support for hunting in the UK is waning fast - and it will take more than a dissembling Horse & Hound propaganda piece to save the Wynnstay as it faces yet more police investigations (and which fewer than half the number of people will read than will read this article) but whenever hunting lobbyists are being "economic with the actualitΓ©" we need to call them out for it.
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