Boxing Day violence and carnage for hunts across the country

Hunt supporters 'letting the side down' as usual...

Another Christmas holiday, another Boxing Day hunt. What was once the most significant high day in the hunting calendar is today a PR exercise for the hunting industry to convince their supporters that everything is going to be all right. The government issued its Animal Welfare Strategy on 22 December 2025. This laid out a pathway towards legislation that should be more effective at ending the hunting of wildlife, making Boxing Day 2025 all the more important for the hunting industry.

The British Hound Sports Association issued its ‘no terriermen’ missive in the weeks leading up to the big day, after the Coniston Foxhounds and Teme Valley Hunt were filmed digging out a fox in November. Undoubtedly part of the motivation was to ensure that hunting had as squeaky clean an image as possible when it was most in the spotlight. Then, on 23 December, former Tory MP and hunting industry inside man Ben Wallace said Boxing Day is:

“a chance to let people know what trail hunting is and for us all to demonstrate that we are the “good guys” while the masked sabs are the extremists.”

Unfortunately for Wallace and his ilk, not everyone got the message.

Unruly Behaviour

In Bungay, Suffolk, hunt supporters became rowdy and attacked anti-hunting protesters. Footage shared with Protect the Wild shows one hunt supporter punching a protester in the face as the Waveney and Norfolk Harriers rode past:

Meanwhile, Northants Hunt Saboteurs published a video of aggressive and bizarre behaviour by a supporter at the Cottesmore Hunt’s meet. It shows him shouting at and barging into protesters whilst claiming “it’s fucking amazing” to harm wildlife.

Hull Wildlife Protectors reported on a similarly unhinged individual at the Holderness Hunt, who the group says directed “hate speech” at a man and his young son.

Plymouth & West Devon Hunt Sabs reported that once-a-year supporters at the Lamerton Hunt meet barged into protesters and using “vile language” in front of young children.

In one exceptional incident, West Yorkshire Hunt Sabs reported that hounds from the Middleton Hunt caused a pub wall to collapse onto a passerby. The sab group said the person “was thankfully uninjured”.

Sabs didn’t escape hunt violence either. South Thames Hunt Saboteurs released footage of a masked figure at the Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt meet firing a catapult at the window of their moving vehicle. The projectile leaves a large crack in the window on the driver’s side as the sabs scramble to leave the area.

Plymouth & West Devon Hunt Sabs said a Lamerton huntsman rode his horse into one of their sabs.

And Somerset Sabs said one of its members also faced aggression. Whilst disrupting the Vale of Tauton and Banwell Harriers, the group said one sab was “assaulted” then “pushed back down the hill” as she tried to see if hounds were killing a fox.

Unfortunately, wildlife were no better off either. Somerset Sabs’ report also mentions the Vale of Taunton and Banwell Harriers chasing a fox as well as deer, whilst West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs said they were forced to stop hounds from chasing a fox at the Boxing Day meet of the Warwickshire Hunt.

North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs said it witnessed the Cattistock Hunt’s hounds chasing a fox on the day, and Devon County Hunt Saboteurs stated on the day that it had seen criminal behaviour by the Eggesford Hunt:

Maintain Pressure

Many sab and monitor groups reported that Boxing Day 2025 was a disheartened affair by hunts throughout England.

With the threat of stronger legislation looming, the onus was on the hunting industry to try and present a respectable face that would justify its continued existence. Yet it seems there were plenty of hunts and hunt supporters who couldn’t keep their passions under control for even a day. That really provides insight into their actions when they are less in the limelight and further away from the public eye.

Any new legislation is still some years off. It’s essential, therefore, that pressure is maintained and momentum continued in the fight against the hunting industry.

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