News Round-Up (14th March 2021)
As hunting in Northern Ireland looks down the barrel of a ban, hunts across England are downsizing
ITV News reported on 23rd February 2021 that there is significant public desire to ban hunting in Northern Ireland, where the practice is still legal. Results of a Private Members’ Bill raised by the Alliance Party showed 78% of respondents favoured a law "protecting wild animals from being killed by dogs”. ITV News described the proposed law as one that would “go further than any law in the rest of the UK”.
In familiar-sounding claims, a spokesperson for Countryside Alliance Ireland wrote to Irish paper News Letter saying the ban would provide “absolutely no benefit to wildlife”. They cited the “difficulties and cost” of enforcing the bans in Great Britain and admitted hunting was more concerned about wildlife “left alive” than those that it killed.
However, Hunt Saboteurs Northern Ireland ‘welcomed’ the Bill, saying:
We now have a unique opportunity to establish legislation that is robust, enforceable and enables successful prosecutions. Northern Ireland also needs to set the highest standard to lead the way for other nations to follow.
And ITV News echoed this. It said the passage of such a strict law in Northern Ireland would “pressure... the rest of the UK to follow their lead”.
Out of money, out of time
Meanwhile, some hunts in England have reportedly downsized. The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) reported on 14th February that the Crawley and Horsham Hunt has let go of its own kennels and moved in with nearby South Down and Eridge Hunt. A representative of the hunt spoke approvingly of the change. They said it brings a “positive outlook” for the Crawley and Horsham Hunt that would preserve heritage, hounds and community. But the HSA were less glowing. Spokesperson Lee Moon said the move is “is just delaying their inevitable demise”.
The Crawley and Horsham Hunt also faced court for two different incidents. On 10th March, a judge at Worthing Magistrates’ Court found huntsman William Bishop not guilty of Hunting Act offences. The Citro covered the case in greater depth. And as this round-up was finalised, West Sussex Hunt Sabs reported the hunt escaped further legal action:
Near the end of the month, the Hunting Office revealed that two Lake District hunts had amalgamated. A job vacancy on the body’s website sought a new huntsman for the “pending" amalgamation of the Cumberland Foxhounds and Cumberland Farmers Foxhounds. An HSA press release provided further background information, including claims that the Cumberland Foxhounds would regularly trespass onto and vandalise private property. At the time of publication, the vacancy is no longer available on the Hunting Office website.
Killing is business and business doesn’t stop
While hunting with hounds remains on hiatus, other forms of wildlife persecution continued. A number of high-profile hare coursing incidents have hit the news. On 11th February, two men were fined at Swindon Magistrates’ Court for “poaching on farmland” in December 2019. Hare coursers were also caught and penalised in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Northumbria and Lancashire. Meanwhile, Yorkshire has seen a number of hare coursing incidents including one near Gribthorpe, south of York, on 18th February. Local paper The Press reported that Humberside Police deployed a helicopter and fixed wing plane to aid the men’s arrests.
Snares and traps have also received a lot of attention. On 12th February, a runner stumbled on a dead cat and fox carefully placed near some snares. The land was part of Bolton Abbey grouse shooting estate in Yorkshire while the bodies and snares were part of a stinkpit created by the gamekeeper. The photos spread across social media and eventually made local news. The Citro covered the story in some depth.
Then on 21st February, Hertfordshire Hunt Saboteurs shared photos of the countryside’s “grim reality”. These showed foxes that the group claims were “snared then shot” as well as larsen traps and metal cages. And on 1st March photos were posted to Twitter by account @helenlgray that showed the results of a cat’s leg caught by a fenn trap. @helenlgray said the cat “dragged herself home” with the trap still attached to her foot.
Following the Coca Cola factory fox cull in early February, South London Hunt Sabs highlighted on 17th February in a now-deleted post that Eltham Warren Golf Course was also to carry out a fox cull. But public pressure led to the golf course quickly reversing its decision, saying the following day that the cull “has been cancelled”:
In a Facebook post, South London Hunt Sabs celebrated the golf course for ”publicly [committing] to not harming not just any foxes, but all wildlife now and in the future”. Meanwhile, Manchester Hunt Sabs also had some luck stopping shooters from killing foxes. The group said on 23rd February it was able to get members out to stop lampers near Radcliffe following several days of reports of nocturnal activity in the area. Lampers use spotlights to uncover wildlife at night and then use dogs or guns to kill them.
“So much for voluntary change”
Shooting has also had a bad time over the last month. A major cull of pheasants and partridges was carried out near Fife, Scotland, following the discovery of bird flu in a rearing population. BBC News reported on 13th February that approximately 14,000 birds were killed. Meanwhile, in a bigger blow to the shooting industry’s public image, a study revealed that 179 of 180 shot pheasants contained lead. This is despite a coalition of industry bodies announcing last year that it wanted to see an end to lead ammunition within five years. Crucially, the birds were destined for public consumption. Professor Rhys Green told BBC News that lead is toxic “even at very low levels”. Wildlife expert Chris Packham commented on the study, saying “So much for voluntary change”:
In a separate move, legal campaigning organisation Wild Justice said on 15th February that it was sending pheasant breasts bought in Sainsbury’s supermarket for analysis.
Gamekeepers continue finding themselves in the limelight following the discovery of a poisoned peregrine falcon. On 2nd March, the RSPB reported that the adult male was discovered in May 2020 by a fell runner on National Trust land in the Upper Derwent Valley. Raptor Persecution UK, a blog run by Wild Justice co-founder Ruth Tingay, commented that the “crime should come as no surprise” because the Peak District National Park is “notorious for raptor persecution”.
Worldwide wildlife persecution
Further afield, 229 Turkish ‘civil society’ groups have called for an end to all hunting in the country. A joint statement was published on 3rd March saying “there cannot be any sports, tourism, hobby or tender for killing any other living being”. The World Animal Protection index is critical of Turkey’s wildlife protection regulations, particularly citing the acceptance and encouragement of hunting as a “barrier to improvement” for animal welfare. As a result, the joint statement demands laws on hunting are “immediately modified” and that “specialized courts of nature are established”. At the time of publishing, the petition attached to the statement has just over 80,000 of a required 150,000 signatures.
The Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting recently highlighted how the trophy hunting industry has thrived during the pandemic. Founder Eduardo Gonçalves told the Daily Star on 12th March that:
Trophy hunting is thriving despite lockdown. … I'm sure there are many British trophy hunters doing this despite the restrictions.
And there was "uproar” over the scale of wolf hunting in Wisconsin, USA. US-based hunting and shooting website Field & Stream reported on 1st March that hunters killed “216 wolves, 82 percent over the state-set maximum limit” and the Guardian said this happened in a window of “less than 60 hours”. The state had earmarked 200 wolves to be killed but only 119 were ‘available’ to hunters. Local indigenous Ojibwe peoples are allocated 81 wolves as part of treaty rights and according to the Guardian they choose to protect rather than kill those wolves because the creatures are sacred. The huge overkill prompted criticism from environmental and animal rights groups, but was defended by one hunting organisation on familiar ‘pest control’ grounds:
depredations on pets and livestock were up 70 percent. This successful hunt will help bring balance back to our population of wolves
Cat killers
On 6th March, West Cornwall Hunt Saboteurs posted photos of a cat named Mini that it said "was attacked and killed by the Western Hunt” earlier that day in a residential area near the hunt’s kennels in Madron. CornwallLive later published footage of the incident showing a member of the hunt picking up a body and throwing it over a fence. Speaking to ITV News, Mini’s companion Carly Jose said she was “devastated, absolutely devastated” by Mini’s death. And the article said that the Western Hunt was reviewing its “procedures to prevent any reoccurrence”. The hunt also said it had contacted Jose to apologise, while Jose told CornwallLive that a representative of the hunt had offered her money. The paper also revealed on 11th March that Devon and Cornwall Police are investigating the incident.
And the same police force was responsible for investigating the leaked Hunting Office webinars, leading to Master of Foxhounds Association director Mark Hankinson facing charges under the Serious Crime Act. Hankinson pleaded not guilty at a hearing on 9th March. As a result, a trial will take place at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 20th and 21st September 2021.
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Headline image via
Hunt Saboteurs NI