FROM THE HUNT SABOTEURS - HOW CALLOUS CAN THIS BE - FOXES KEPT TO BE CHASED

 

View this email in your browser Hi,  Artificial Earths: Part Two - The Hunting Season In Part 1 ‘Artificial Earths; A Year-Round Deception’, we covered the Spring and Summer months, which included the hunt’s preparation work out of season, and the rearing of fox cubs ready for the new hunting season. In Part 2, we will cover the use of artificial earths during the autumn and winter months, which coincides with the hunting season. Sabs find an artificial earth with a bagged fox inside. © Cirencester Illegal Hunt Watch. Most hunts start their season around the end of August or start of September with ‘cub hunting’, and by the start of November the hunts will be out for full days of fox hunting. Come the start of the season, the hunt will be hoping to have a regular supply of foxes to hunt, provided by their artificial earths which the terrier men have been maintaining over the summer months. The fox cubs that were stolen from their mothers earlier in the year, placed in the artificial earths, then fed and watered, will now have been released, with the hope that they will stick around to provide easy hunting. They will now be juveniles and learning to fend for themselves, however they will still be getting fed by the terrier men with shot birds and other animal carcasses to encourage them to stay in the area. The hunt's preference is to now leave the formerly sealed artificial earths open, so that foxes can come and go ready for the hunt to pursue them.  Another tactic used is to place a fox in the artificial earth the night before a hunt, this is known as a ‘drop pot’, and the entrances will be sealed until the hounds are nearby the next day, then release the fox in front of the hunt. Three Counties Hunt Sabs saved a fox from one of these hellholes at the Cotswold Hunt.  If you see terrier men entering a woodland carrying terriers, it’s a safe bet they are up to no good. © Three Counties Hunt Saboteurs. During the cub hunting season, the hunts will head to the woodlands or coverts where the artificial earths are, knowing full well that they’ll have fox cubs ready to hunt, with the field riders surrounding the woodland on horseback to try keep the young foxes inside so that the new hounds can learn to kill and get a taste for blood.  Later on in the season, on full hunting days, the aim is to allow the foxes to be flushed from the artificial earths and break cover so that the hounds can give chase across the fields - this is why the terrier men build the earths at the edges of the woodlands with the entrances facing in the direction that the hunt will want to hunt.  Sabs from Cirencester illegal Hunt Watch and Three Counties Hunt Saboteurs discover a bagged female fox in an artificial earth at the Cotswold Hunt. Artificial earths are usually designed to afford easy access for the terrier men, with a concrete slab placed over the main chamber to create a ‘drop pot’. The terrier men will send terriers down the drainage pipe entrances of the earths or even use drainage rods to bolt the fox for the hunt. The artificial earths are particularly useful to the hunts when they have ‘drawn a blank’, and are much easier for the terrier men, rather than them digging into a badger sett with their complex tunnel structures.   If you happen to come across what you suspect to be an artificial earth, please take photos and try to get an accurate location (what3words is ideal for this – but do it in situ) and report your findings to your local sab group or to the Hunt Saboteurs Association – thank you! Get involved! Find out how you can be part of our campaign to strengthen the Hunting Act Take Action Spread the word! Please share our news Share via email Copyright (C) 2024 Hunt Saboteurs Association. All rights reserved. You were subscribed to the newsletter from Hunt Saboteurs Association. Our mailing address is: BM HSA, London, WC1N 3XX, U.K. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe