Wednesday 6 November 2024

FROM PROTECT THE WILD —SAME AGAIN ANOTHER FOX TORN TO PIECES

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'Traumatising': Gruesome footage shows Seavington Hunt tearing up fox

Rider then throws body in a stream

ELIZA EGRET

NOV 6

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Two Counties Hunt Sabs have published gruesome footage from the Seavington Hunt's opening meet, which took place on 26 October. The video shows a fox being caught by hounds and torn up, while the huntsman watches closely. A rider then throws the fox's body into a nearby stream.

(WARNING: Video shows a fox being killed)

No shame

The sabs wrote

"Sadly, sabs were not able to save this poor fox that was savagely hunted and torn apart by hounds, all while Huntsman Duncan Cinnamond looks on and does absolutely NOTHING to stop them.
A few moments later, you can see a rider picking up the remains of the fox and throwing it into a stream without an ounce of shame or compassion for the life just taken. Sabs did hurry to the scene, but were unable to recover the remains of the fox."

Vodka company's links to the kill

Two Counties Sabs recorded the pin location of the kill, and reported that it took place at Childhay Manor, home of Black Cow Vodka. A brand that states that it is "proudly from West Dorset", it runs distillery tours for the public at this location. Black Cow Vodka is sold at big retailers like Sainsbury's, Morrisons, M&S and Oddbins. Protect the Wild is sure that its consumers will be disgusted when they learn that the same land is used by the Seavington Hunt to tear up foxes.

The police need to take urgent action

Protect the Wild spoke to a Two Counties saboteur who was on the ground at the weekend. He said that having witnessed the incident, the group is traumatised, and that he hasn't been able to sleep since.

The sab told us:

"There's no such thing as a laying a trail. All the hunts are exactly the same in Devon and Somerset. The huntsman was so blatant, he didn't even care: he just carried on hunting."

He told us that the group called Dorset Police (the incident happened just over the border from Somerset, in the village of Drimpton). The force took a reference number but didn't attend the scene, nor has it contacted anyone from the group since.

The sab continued:

"The police need to up their ante now and start prosecuting these idiots. I have been a sab for 34 years and what we are seeing is no different to the 90s, before the Hunting Act came in. The only difference is that the Seavington don't have terrier thugs with them.
The police never come out ever, even when we're threatened. The Cattistock Hunt boys, for example, are nasty, block cameras, drive at us on quads, and the police do nothing."

Police inaction around fox hunting is all too common, and is something Protect the Wild has written extensively about. On 25 October, the Hunt Saboteurs Association reported that Devon and Cornwall Police has dropped an investigation into the Axe Vale Harriers. Hunt saboteurs caught and filmed terriermen digging out a badger sett to get to a fox, who had hidden underground from the hunt. The footage showed the injured fox escaping. The case was dropped due to supposed "insufficient evidence". Devon County Sabs said:

"We regularly have to contend with police bias, obstruction and lack of knowledge of even the basic aspects of the relevant legislation. This is shocking for a police force that is also home to the national policing lead on hunting (Matt Longman)."

Seavington Hunt March 2022. ITV News.

No stranger to news headlines

Meanwhile, the Seavington Hunt, whose hounds are kenneled near Ilminster, is rarely far from controversy. In August 2022, ITV News broadcast footage showing what appeared to be a bagged fox being released by the hunt. The video showed a group of terriermen pulling a bag from a quad bike before dumping an animal, who was trapped inside, onto the ground. Huntsman Benedict Hood is then seen encouraging a nearby pack of foxhounds to chase the animal.

It is clear that police inaction allows the Seavington to continue to commit the most heinous acts of animal cruelty year after year.

Dorset Police needs to do better than its friends at Devon and Cornwall Police. If it wants the public to have any faith at all in its policing, the force must arrest Seavington Hunt members, and the CPS must urgently prosecute this latest incident.

Two Counties Hunt Sabs understandably say they have been left traumatised by this awful crime. Their footage has enabled us all - once again - to see the true face of fox hunting, but being in the field witnessing hunts breaking the law and killing wild animals comes at a heavy emotional cost. We can all show Two Counties Hunt Sabs our support by donating to them here.

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Monday 4 November 2024

WOODCOCK MOON

woodcock moon

‘falls’ of birds appear in that

Novemberwoodcockmoon

so called ‘cos that’s when

they come plummeting in

those northernfarflyers

with an innate understanding

of survival to come

not to see us but to feed

it’s our very own woodland

winter bird we should enjoy

gorgeous plumage in

smart early season

browns and beige with an

inspirational dress sense

deny the shooters’ blood lust

let fingers fly over the keyboard

let your words cut through the ether

scream the message out

enough no more killing

FROM PROTECT THE WILD. — NORTHERN IRELAND AND BAN THE DOGS?

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HAVE YOUR SAY! Northern Ireland launches consultation into banning hunting with dogs

Hunting still legal but Alliance Party wants a ban

ELIZA EGRET

NOV 4

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It is still completely legal to hunt wild mammals with dogs in Northern Ireland. But the Alliance Party is trying to ban the barbaric practice – and it wants you to have your say.

Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) John Blair has launched a consultation (which runs until 13/Jan/25) into his plan to use a Private Members Bill to ban the hunting of wild mammals with dogs. Blair previously brought forward a similar Bill in 2021, but it was defeated in the Second Stage by a combination of Sinn Féin and most DUP MLAs, who voted against it.

He said:

"I am hoping this time round, we can give a voice to the majority of people who remain opposed to hunting wild mammals with dogs and show Northern Ireland does not condone it whatsoever. It is crucial this is not allowed to fail again."

He continued:

“This consultation gives people an opportunity to make those voices heard and put on record their views in order to send a clear message.
Animal welfare is a high priority for Alliance, and I encourage everyone to participate, so we can bring our legislation into line with the rest of the UK and outlaw this barbaric practice once and for all.”

Learn from Scotland's mistakes

The Alliance Party said that it will address the weaknesses that it has identified in both Scotland's Hunting with Dogs Act and England and Wales' Hunting Act. The party said:

"The Bill, if passed, will also ban trail hunting and effectively outlaw flushing with dogs for pest control, also known as ‘terrier work’. Possible exemptions may apply."

Protect the Wild argues that there should be no exemptions to any law that is proposed. The party continued:

"The legislation would make illegal the use of dogs to hunt, attack and kill mammals, for example, and could include pre-emptive measures to not make available any loopholes where dogs are used for flushing in large numbers or where trail hunting becomes a bigger reality in Northern Ireland."

Slightly worryingly, the party has stated:

"Mr Blair’s new Private Members’ Bill's aspirations are comparable in ambition to Scotland’s Hunting with Dogs Act, as the latter ends illegal hunts and closes loopholes in the previous 20-year-old legislation."

Blair and the Alliance Party need to take note that an exemption in Scotland's Hunting with Dogs Act - which only came into force in October 2023 - allows hunters to carry on with their bloodshed. Like Northern Ireland, Scotland, learned from the loopholes in England and Wales' Hunting Act, and passed legislation to ban trail hunting. But it is a new loophole - its licensing scheme - that has allowed hunts to get away with murder. The scheme allows “farmers and other land managers to use more than two dogs, in limited circumstances, for appropriate and humane wildlife control.”

Back in August of this year, the Daily Record reported that NatureScot had issued more than 40 licences between November 2023 and April 2024. In 31 of these licences, the use of more than 20 dogs was permitted. The Scottish Greens' Ariane Burgess told the Daily Record:

“The Scottish Government is showing staggering complacency if this is how they envisaged the system working. The number of licences that have been issued makes clear that this is being treated as a loophole and exploited.”

Meanwhile, in England and Wales, the Hunting Act 2004 has so many loopholes that it would be hard to draw any inspiration from Tony Blair's shockingly bad legislation. Protect the Wild has covered how hunts are using these loopholes and exemptions - such as the ‘Research and Observation’ exemption used by stag hunts - many times. These loopholes and exemptions have changed a straightforward piece of legislation banning the hunting of wild mammals with hounds into something far more uncertain and malleable.

Have your say!

You can fill in the consultation survey here, even if you don't live in Northern Ireland. Protect the Wild urges the Alliance Party to take inspiration from our proposed Hunting of Mammals Bill, which was prepared by Advocates for Animals for law makers in England and Wales. Unlike the other Acts that have passed in the UK, the Hunting of Mammals Bill provides a comprehensive ban on hunting with hounds, with no exemptions or loopholes, and spells the end of fox hunting, deer hunting, hare coursing and hare hunting.

When filling in the form, we advise you to stress that there should be no exemptions to the law, and no Scotland-style licensing scheme. We also urge individuals to direct the Alliance Party to Protect the Wild's Hunting of Mammals Bill, which would truly stop hunting in its tracks.

Learning from its neighbours' mistakes, Northern Ireland has an opportunity to put forward the most robust hunting law in the UK.

Fill in the survey 'Public Consultation - Private Members' Bill to Ban Hunting of Wild Mammals with Dogs' here.

Sabbing and monitoring - protecting wildlife from the people who want to harm animals - can be dangerous and exhausting. But we, us, you, the groups we support are making a genuine difference, out in the field where it is needed. Hunts are losing support and being watched like never before. So, thank you to the groups out on the front line - and thank you to every single one of you who are supporting them.

Chip in and help those on the frontline

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