16/06/2025
MAY ROUND UP
May saw evidence gathered by local hunt sab groups result in more Hunting Act convictions plus various assault convictions. Some groups have been busy fundraising with a benefit album out and a gig planned for July. Hunts have also been busy fundraising, but have been met by demonstrations from their local sab groups. Finally, the Dove Valley Mink and Otter hounds were sabbed on two occasions
In the dock:
🦊 Huntsman of Weston & Banwell / West Somerset Vale Hunt Guy Landau, of Over Stowey, Bridgwater, appeared at Taunton Magistrates’ Court on May 19. The 58-year-old was fined £400 for hunting a wild mammal with dogs and also ordered to pay £85 in costs and a £160 surcharge. This conviction is a result of footage obtained by both Mendip Hunt Sabs and Somerset Sabs
🦊Duncan Cinnamond Huntsman of the Seavington Hunt pleaded guilty at Weymouth Magistrates Court to hunting a wild mammal with dogs after killing a fox in Drimpton near Beaminster in October last year. The 49 year old man from Ilminster, Somerset was fined £513 and ordered to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £205. This conviction was a result of footage obtained by Two Counties Hunt Saboteurs - Somerset and Dorset
🦊Robert Howard Roberston-Tierney of the Derwent Hunt pleaded guilty to common assault and was fined £562 plus a £225 victim surcharge and £300 costs to the CPS. Caught on camera he deliberately rode his horse up to stationary East Yorkshire Coast Hunt Sabs vehicle and attempted to whip a female sab through the open window.
🦊Mark Hamilton also of the Derwent Hunt was found guilty of ‘Assault by Beating’ at Scarborough Justice Centre. Hamilton violently lashed out with his whip at a member of East Yorkshire Coast Sabs at the Derwents opening meet, November 2nd 2024. He was fined £192 fine plus a £77 victim surcharge plus costs
🦊 Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt terrierman Steve Paul pleaded guilty to assault at Yeovil Magistrates Court. The charge came from an incident on the 11th of January in Queen Camel where, after a particularly fruitless day's hunting, he blocked the road while the hunt had a fox hiding in a small covert, and then repeatedly rammed his quad into the back of a sab. He was fined £1300 plus a £520 surcharge, £85 costs and £150 compensation to the victim. Total of £2055. He also received a Section 59 warning for antisocial driving. He already has a conviction for spraying a sab in the face with urine on two occasions.
🦊 21st May Charlie Ford of the Dorset and Somerset Bassets pleaded not guilty at Weymouth Magistrates Court to hunting a hare.
🦊 Tom Martin, a teenage thug belonging to the Puckeridge with Essex Union Hunt, was found guilty of assaulting a North London Hunt Sab in Essex last November.
Scotland:
Nearly half of the country’s fox hunts have collapsed in the past two years. Those that have chosen to carry on are increasingly facing charges.
🦊A 30-year-old man has been charged in connection with two wildlife offences under the Hunting with Dogs Act, following an investigation in the Scottish Borders. The incidents took place in the Pennymuir area on Saturday, 21 December, 2024, and the Hawick area on Tuesday, 14 January, 2025.
🦊A 50-year-old woman and a 70-year-old man are the latest to face prosecution after Glasgow Hunt Sabs submitted footage showing fox hunting activity in Houston, Renfrewshire, on Saturday 4th January. These charges are particularly significant, as the individuals were operating under licences issued by NatureScot—licences that are routinely described as ‘strict’ by those defending them.
🦊 Residents in the village of George Nympton have voted to become a hunt free zone and signed a “No Hunt Zone” declaration document which requires No hunt traffic passes through the village and no hunting takes place on the perimeter of the village.
Fundraisers:
🦊Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs have a benefit gig on the 18th-19th July at The Barge Inn, Honeystreet. Tickets available here https://bampstock.bigcartel.com/product/gig-tickets
🦊Sheffield Hunt Sabs have a benefit album out which can be brought on Vinyl here Vinyl https://www.givethefoxagun.com/ and Download https://givethefoxagun.bandcamp.com/album/give-the-fox-a-gun
Demonstrations:
🦊West Midlands Hunt Sabs held a demonstration at Mollington Races, the Point-to-Point fundraising event for the Warwickshire Hunt at Mollington Racecourse, which is owned by DLF & SR Jeffries of Point to Point Farm, Banbury
🦊Northants Hunt Sabs continue their demonstrations of Cottesmore Hunt fun rides,
Weymouth Animal Rights joined up with other groups on outside the South Dorset Hunt kennels to protest at this year’s annual Puppy Show… not only about the Puppy show itself, but about the horrific ex*****on of puppies and hounds by the hunts.
Mink / Otter Hunting
Mink Hunts:
🦊The Dove Valley Mink Hounds have been sabbed twice in May with West Midlands Sabs, Manchester Hunt Sabs Nottingham Hunt Saboteurs Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs and West Yorkshire Hunt Saboteurs catching the hunt on the River Blithe, Staffordshire 10th May where the hunt quickly made their way back to the meet at Field Hall Farm, which is run by farm manager Rob Atkin who, ironically on the soil association website claims that Field Hall is a "space for biodiversity and wildlife is integrated into the farm."
They were sabbed again on the 31st May by Nottingham Hunt Saboteurs , Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs , West Mids Sabs and Northants Hunt Saboteurs. They met at a sewage works in Great Wilne with huntsman Will Shaw quickly scuttling off from his location on the River Derwent to avoid having to face sabs leaving behind a dejected collection of hunt supporters.
