FROM PROTECT THE WILD — POLITICIANS ARE ALLOWING THE KILLING TO CONTINUE

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Hunting News: While politicians argue about 'trail hunting' the killing goes on NOTE THIS post contains GRAPHIC IMAGES FEB 5 READ IN APP January was a bad month for hunting. On 5 January, Emma Reynolds, MP for Wycombe and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - together with Baroness Heyman of Ullock - formally introduced the government’s new Animal Welfare strategy to parliament, which included a commitment to finally introducing a ban on trail hunting as well as criminalisation of the use of snares and a ban on shooting Brown Hares during their breeding season. Increasingly desperate pro-hunt advocates have been busy arguing in parliament and the media that the UK’s hunts are a persecuted law-abiding bunch who are just trying to lawfully trailhunt. We’ve been working hard too, pointing out what a crock of horse manure that all is - check out our rebuttals of their arguments here and here. While all that hot air has been blowing, the cruel reality of hunting has been going on as if nothing was happening. In our first hunting update of 2026, we share several stories that illustrate, once and again, why we need a proper ban to end this bloodsport once and for all. - Mendip Farmers Hunt, South Dorset Hunt and the Portman Hunt all killed foxes this month, documented by sabs and monitors. - A wildlife defender received a written apology from Pytchley with Woodland huntsman Luke Chutter for verbally abusing her. But is it worth the paper it’s written on? - The Flint & Denbigh Hunt caused havoc on the A55 in North Wales AGAIN, letting their hounds run loose on the road. - Finally, a supporter of the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale (BSV) Hunt pleaded guilty to assaulting a wildlife defender, bringing the total number of BSV convictions to a shameful fifteen. As parliament dithers foxes are still dying The Labour government has repeatedly promised to ban trail hunting. It made that pledge in its 2024 election manifesto and repeatedly since then. In April last year Labour promised to organise a public consultation on the issue, which was slated for early 2026. It’s nearly February and we are still waiting! Meanwhile, it’s business as usual for the UK’s fox hunts. They are out killing as many foxes as they can, with no more than a token facade of trail hunting. At least three hunts - the Portman, the Mendip Farmers Hunt (MFH) and the South Dorset Hunt (SDH) - have unlawfully killed foxes this month. Two of the killings were captured on camera. Just before the start of the month - on 31 December 2025 - a hiker on Dartmoor was shocked to see a fox ripped up in front of him. The walker told DevonLive that the hunt had chased the fox for nearly an hour before they caught him. Devon and Cornwall Police have confirmed that the hunt involved has now been issued with a Community Protection Warning. Killing captured by eye in the sky Mendip Hunt Sabs (MHS) passed on drone footage to the police after their eye in the sky captured crystal clear images of the MFH’s hounds ripping up a vixen on 18 January. Here is an image of the pursuit and a GRAPHIC PHOTO of her mutilated body: The Mendip Farmers Hunt pursuing the vixen. A member of Mendip Hunt Saboteurs cradles the ragged body of a vixen ripped apart by the Mendip Farmers’ Hunts’ hounds - 18 January 2026. A member of Mendip Hunt Saboteurs cradles the ragged body of a vixen ripped apart by the Mendip Farmers’ Hunts’ hounds - 18 January 2026. A member of MHS told Protect the Wild that, unfortunately, the MFH were becoming more and more blatant in terrorising wildlife in the Mendip Hills. They said: “This is not an isolated incident, we have filmed and witnessed persistent and relentless illegal fox hunting from the Mendip Farmers Hunt all season. They have become more brazen as we have filmed multiple incidents of their hounds close behind foxes in recent weeks. Sadly, this culminated in us capturing the brutal death of this young vixen as she was ripped apart by hounds.” Show Quoted Content “This is not an isolated incident, we have filmed and witnessed persistent and relentless illegal fox hunting from the Mendip Farmers Hunt all season. They have become more brazen as we have filmed multiple incidents of their hounds close behind foxes in recent weeks. Sadly, this culminated in us capturing the brutal death of this young vixen as she was ripped apart by hounds.” Later the same month, North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs (NDHS) reported that the Portman had killed again. The group wrote on Facebook: “The terrified animal had no chance struggling across the wet ground and became completely disorientated at the end as their body flooded with toxins from the chase, fatally turning back along the hedge into the path of hounds. There was nothing sabs could do. Convicted huntsman Shaun Marles, dog beater Henry Marshall and recently convicted thief Kieron Fookes were all smiles. Disgusting.” This beautiful fox was killed by the Portman Hunt on 24 January Show Quoted Content “The terrified animal had no chance struggling across the wet ground and became completely disorientated at the end as their body flooded with toxins from the chase, fatally turning back along the hedge into the path of hounds. There was nothing sabs could do. Convicted huntsman Shaun Marles, dog beater Henry Marshall and recently convicted thief Kieron Fookes were all smiles. Disgusting.” This beautiful fox was killed by the Portman Hunt on 24 January The same day, Weymouth Animal Rights (WAR) witnessed the murder of another fox, this time by the South Dorset Hunt. After a brief and performative spell of following a scent, the Hunt began pursuing a fox, caught her and ripped her apart on camera. After WAR filmed the killing, SDH’s new huntsman Keiran Hawkes managed to grab the camera from a sab in an attempt to hide the evidence. Luckily, the brave wildlife defender was able to get it back. Later on, WAR’s sabs were abused and assaulted by Hawkes, a hunt supporter and several riders. They wrote on Facebook: “Shortly [after witnessing the killing of the fox], three female riders approached our sabs incredibly aggressively and after being told that we had filmed the hunt killing a fox, proceeded to whip our sabs around the head and ride aggressively at us using their horses as weapons. Several sabs were head butted by the poor horses. A local elderly man and his wife, very obviously pro-fox hunting, came out to tell us that ‘they keep the countryside clean’. Meanwhile, Keiran Hawkes proceeded to hit another sab over the head with his whip.” Show Quoted Content “Shortly [after witnessing the killing of the fox], three female riders approached our sabs incredibly aggressively and after being told that we had filmed the hunt killing a fox, proceeded to whip our sabs around the head and ride aggressively at us using their horses as weapons. Several sabs were head butted by the poor horses. A local elderly man and his wife, very obviously pro-fox hunting, came out to tell us that ‘they keep the countryside clean’. Meanwhile, Keiran Hawkes proceeded to hit another sab over the head with his whip.” ‘While Parliament dithers and delays, it is business as usual for hunters’ According to Protect the Wild’s Rob Pownall: “While Parliament dithers and delays, it is business as usual for hunters. The law is weak, enforcement is patchy, and animals continue to pay the price.” While politicians argue about the legal loopholes and score political points, it is sabs and monitors who keep taking considerable personal risks to monitor the hunts and save lives. Please consider making 2026 the year you join your local group. Support Weymouth Animal Rights, Mendip Hunt Saboteurs and North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs to carry on protecting our wildlife. Please consider making a donation to support their work. Pytchley huntsman forced to apologise over misogynistic abuse of a wildlife defender Supporters of the Pytchley with Woodland showing the true face of hunting A lone wildlife defender has been monitoring the Pytchley with Woodland (PwW) Hunt for years. As the debate over fox hunting heated up at the end of last year, the Hunt and its supporters have been growing increasingly aggressive. Emma - a member of the public who goes out alone with camera equipment and a drone to monitor the hunt - was subjected to abuse multiple times during November and December. Hunt supporters and terriermen (who are still going out with the hunt in defiance of the British Hounds Sports Association ruling that trail hunts should separate themselves from terrierwork - apparently they didn’t get the memo!) repeatedly flipped her the finger. One hunt member kneeled down in front of her car and performatively laced up his boot to prevent her from keeping up with the pack. Supporters of the Pytchley became car-parking busybodies and experts on trespass, challenging Emma on where she parked her vehicle and where she could walk. All of this, sadly, is pretty routine for UK wildlife defenders. However, when the Pytchley’s huntsman subjected Emma to a particularly foul stream of abuse, she decided to report him to the police. Lewis Chutter, huntsman of the Pytchley with Woodland. Chutter rode past Emma on 15 November. As he sped by, he cursed Emma. She told Protect the Wild: “I was monitoring from the roadside and the hounds were in cry, going across the field, and I was filming them with my camera. Chutter and his Whipper-in George Painter, came cantering along the hedgeline where I was standing, but I was the other side of the hedge. They were in the field. I was on the roadway, and as he went by, he said: “member of the public, you haven’t even got the fucking bollocks to call yourself a sab, c**t!” Show Quoted Content “I was monitoring from the roadside and the hounds were in cry, going across the field, and I was filming them with my camera. Chutter and his Whipper-in George Painter, came cantering along the hedgeline where I was standing, but I was the other side of the hedge. They were in the field. I was on the roadway, and as he went by, he said: “member of the public, you haven’t even got the fucking bollocks to call yourself a sab, c**t!” Emma took this video of the incident on 15 November. Chutter’s words are audible 18 seconds into the footage: This type of misogynist abuse - of course - isn’t a one-off. Emma sent us this image of another Pytchley rider who called her a “miserable c**t”. This little ray of sunshine called a lone wildlife defender a miserable c***t. Emma explained to us how this abuse is intended to discourage her from continuing to monitor the activities of the Pytchley. She said: “I am actively singled out and targeted by the huntsman and his staff along with supporters of the hunt on a regular basis. A meet does not go by without an incident of some sort happening which is directed at me. I am frequently verbally abused, subjected to acts of intimidation and criminal behaviour which is all designed to prevent me from legitimately monitoring and evidence gathering on the criminal conduct of the hunt. Their behaviour and conduct is disgraceful and shameful.” Show Quoted Content “I am actively singled out and targeted by the huntsman and his staff along with supporters of the hunt on a regular basis. A meet does not go by without an incident of some sort happening which is directed at me. I am frequently verbally abused, subjected to acts of intimidation and criminal behaviour which is all designed to prevent me from legitimately monitoring and evidence gathering on the criminal conduct of the hunt. Their behaviour and conduct is disgraceful and shameful.” We asked Emma how it felt to be singled out like this. She said: “It can be very unpleasant and at times frightening, however I will continue to do what I believe to be the right thing for the right reasons, I won’t be bullied into silence by these cowards and will continue to be the voice for our wildlife and expose these people for who they really are”. It’s easy to see how intimidating all of this is. Emma is on her own with just her camera for protection. She has even been informed in the past that police have received intelligence about threats against her by the hunting community. The terriermen she encounters are often masked and unaccountable. Forced to apologise On this occasion, Northamptonshire police chose to do something. They spoke to Chutter about the language he used and he agreed to send a letter, as part of a ‘Community Resolution’, where he said sorry for causing Emma ‘harassment, alarm or distress’ and promised that it won’t happen again. The wording of his letter shows that the police considered he used language capable of breaching Section 5 of the Public Order Act (causing ‘harassment, alarm or distress’). They could have charged Chutter - and probably would have done so if the shoe was on the other foot and he was a sab. Instead, they chose the more lenient Community Resolution approach. Despite the apology, the abuse and intimidation toward Emma from the Pytchley is steadily increasing, not de-escalating. It seems likely that Chutter’s apology isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. To give a couple more examples, a hunt supporter tried to grab Emma’s camera in order to stop her filming on 27 December last year. Chutter’s wife, Lizzy, regularly gives Emma the middle finger too. More people flipping the bird, this time masked terriermen out with the Pytchley in a quad This is by no means the first time that Emma has had to report intimidatory behaviour to the police in the course of keeping an eye on the local hunts. It’s clear that Emma’s monitoring work is vital. As Protect the Wild has previously reported, the Pytchley have been the subject of multiple police complaints since 2022 over illegal hunting. As the government’s promised ‘trail hunting’ consultation looms closer, we can expect more and more intimidation and violence from hunts. If you’ve been affected by violence and abuse from the hunt it can help to get mental health support. Protect the Wild is funding a trained counsellor who can provide sessions to sabs. Click here to find out more. Check out our Protectors of the Wild page on ‘Assaults and the Law’. Hound havoc on the A55, AGAIN The Flint & Denbigh Hunt in North Wales let their hounds loose on a busy road yet again. The hunt also caused controversy back in 2024 when North Wales Hunt Sabs filmed them causing havoc on the A548. The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) posted on Facebook: “On the A55 in North Wales yesterday, the scene of previous accidents caused by out of control hounds belonging to the Flint & Denbigh Hunt who were hunting on the adjoining Kinmel Estate. Numerous fleeing deer were also seen.” The incident was reported to the local police by road users. The HSA quipped, “Did they lay a trail across a 70 mph dual carriageway?” The Flint & Denbigh are no strangers to the headlines, in 2021 The Mirror reported on one of their riders punching a horse after he failed to make a jump. Hunt havoc on the roads is a nationwide problem Hunts causing havoc on the roads isn’t confined to North Wales. Late last year, following reports from hunt saboteurs, wildlife monitors and members of the public, Lincolnshire Police decided to advise hunters who cause problems on the highways to take road safety courses. Lincolnshire Police told the BBC that they had made their decision after their officers had witnessed “horrendously dangerous behaviour” from local hunt groups. They also said they were receiving an “increasing number of road safety complaints” from the public about fox hunts. Meanwhile, in December 2025 in Yorkshire, panic broke out in late November as a riderless hunting horse ran out of control across a busy highway. The chaos hunts regularly unleash on UK roads is just another sign of how little they care about local communities. Find out more by visiting hunthavoc.info. Yet another conviction for the notorious Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt Kieron Fookes of the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt - convicted of theft. The Blackmore and Sparkford Vale (BSV) criminal gang totted up another conviction on 22 January, when Kieron Fookes pleaded guilty to theft of a hunt sab’s radio. This was the 15th time a member of the BSV has been convicted of an offence. The case arose out of an incident at Pulham in December 2023 when a lone sab was surrounded by five hunt supporters. Fookes snatched her radio from behind, so the theft wasn’t captured on her bodycam. Fortunately, Fookes’ comrades videoed it themselves. North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs (NDHS) wrote: “thankfully the morons were all filming themselves and had no qualms handing over the evidence to clear their own names and place the blame squarely on Fookes! Fookes’ laughable defence was that he hadn’t stolen the radio, and the sab had randomly punched him in the balls (ew) in some sort of weird backwards swing and he was clutching his painful nuts and defending himself, not holding onto the stolen radio!” Show Quoted Content “thankfully the morons were all filming themselves and had no qualms handing over the evidence to clear their own names and place the blame squarely on Fookes! Fookes’ laughable defence was that he hadn’t stolen the radio, and the sab had randomly punched him in the balls (ew) in some sort of weird backwards swing and he was clutching his painful nuts and defending himself, not holding onto the stolen radio!” Bournemouth Crown Court fined Fookes a trifling £100 and he was ordered to pay £30 compensation for the radio. The theft occurred as part of the same incident that eventually led to the BSV’s Charlie Mayo and Kieron Bashford being convicted of Wilful Obstruction of the Highway after obstructing a wildlife defender who was trying to protect a fox. The BSV’s other criminal convictions include: assault, driving without due care and attention, actual bodily harm, assault by beating (including, on one occasion, for spraying urine at someone) and - of course - multiple convictions for illegally hunting a fox with hounds. But their criminal records don’t really do justice to quite what a menace the BSV are to wildlife and the public at large. Here are a few more examples: During the 2023/24 hunting season, the BSV accounted for a massive 12.83% of total reported fox chases and kills in the UK. In March 2025, a member of the BSV was filmed threatening a council worker with a spade while causing havoc on the road. Dorset Police Rural Crime Team said that it was investigating two reports of illegal hunting by the BSV in February 2025. In February 2025, police were called after a BSV member rode into a sab from NDHS while in pursuit of a fox. In 2024, Dorset Police arrested two members of the BSV over attacks on sabs from NDHS. One man was charged with assault and theft. The arrests are thought to relate to an assault on two female sabs by three masked men in October 2023. On that occasion, the women were pushed and shoved, and their cameras were stolen. This assault was followed by attacks on the homes and vehicles of several activists. In August 2023, the BSV was filmed allowing its hounds to kill a fox, and then tear up her corpse. BSV members didn’t intervene at any point. Also in August 2023, the Hunt was caught blatantly cubbing (trapping and killing young fox cubs). In 2020, a monitor from Somerset Wildlife Crime was deliberately knocked down by another member of the BSV. In 2014, the BSV’s Mark Dogrell trampled hunt saboteur Nid Warren with his horse, leaving her with serious injuries. In 2025, the Hound Sports Regulation Authority (HSRA), the regulatory arm of the British Hound Sports Association (BHSA), published the results of the disciplinary against the BSV for the 2024 killing of a fox in a residential garden at Pelsham farm. The incident had provoked mainstream media headlines and public outrage. Surprise, surprise... The BSV were given a mild telling off from the HSRA and allowed to keep on hunting, carry on terrorising foxes and menacing communities. We need a real ban on hunting with hounds to stop the BSV. Until then its up to us to sabotage their cruel sport. Sign our petition calling for a proper ban on hunting, and check out our proposal for a proper ban on the hunting of mammals with hounds. Use Protect the Wild’s automated tool to email your MP and demand that they ensure that Labour follows through with enacting a proper ban on hunting. Protect the Wild has supported several groups to keep exposing the BSV through our Equipment Fund. You can donate to the fund here. Finally, please donate what you can to support the work of North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs. Images and footage of the Pytchley with Woodland Hunt courtesy of Emma, a local wildlife defender. Images of the Mendip Farmers Hunt giving chase and the dead vixen via Mendip Hunt Sabs, video of the South Dorset Hunt ripping up a fox courtesy of Weymouth Animal Rights. Image of Kieron Fookes via North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs. Many thanks to all the groups who provided us with images or video. SHARE LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Protect the Wild Protect the Wild, 71-75 Shelton Street Covent Garden, London, W2CH 9JQ Unsubscribe Start writing