A brilliant week at The Chelsea Flower Show standing against hunting

The campaign gathers momentum!

What a week it has been! Literally thousands and thousands of people saw our message asking The Chelsea Flower Show to drop the hunt supporting headline sponsor ‘The Newt in Somerset’. And this morning I worked out that I personally stood outside the front gates for 24 hours across the duration of the week so needless to say I am absolutely knackered! I estimate that 1/4 of all attendees to the Chelsea Flower Show this year saw our message.

I just want to express my thanks and appreciation to all those who joined me yesterday for the main demonstration. It was a pleasure to meet so many like minded people all willing to give up their Saturday afternoon to stand up for wildlife. You can see a video below of what the main entrance to the show looked like all of yesterday!

Our message is being heard and the campaign is gathering momentum. Yesterday I was told that 26,000 people walked into the show between the hours that we were stood there (from 8am - 5pm). That’s an incredible number of people not only thinking about our campaign but also about fox hunting more generally and the fact it still goes on. And I was told by numerous staff and attendees that there was a considerable amount of chatter inside the show about our campaign. In recent days the press has picked up the story too with Somerset Live and Yahoo News having published an article (The Newt in Somerset failed to respond to them too!)

I couldn’t be prouder of the work that we do and the fantastic people that support Protect the Wild. As an organisation we will never stop fighting for animals and calling out any person or business that sides with cruelty. Our campaign for The Newt in Somerset to ban hunts from their land continues and we have many more actions planned throughout the Summer! And not just in regards to this campaign but when it comes to ending hunting as a whole we will be super busy pushing our calls for The Hunting of Mammals Bill to be adopted!

We have since written to the RHS (see here) and again to The Newt in Somerset (see here) asking them both to engage in an open dialogue. In the meantime there’s still things you can do to help the campaign! Please fill out a feedback form to the RHS and express your concerns with them being sponsored by The Newt in Somerset who allow the BSV Hunt to meet on their land.

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Other actions you can take

• Sign the petition to The Newt in Somerset and add your name to 12,000+ others

• Politely phone the hotel and politely ask them why they are ignoring 12,000+ people asking that they refused to ban the BSV Hunt from their land - 01963 577700

• Email us at - volunteer@protectthewild.org.uk if you live in Somerset and want to do some leafleting in your area - we will get some sent out to you!

• Share our posts on social media

• Send us a donation to help cover our campaigning costs