Dorset vicar stands by hare hunters

Purbeck and Bovington Beagles photographed at St Peter's Church, Purse Caundle

Protect the Wild's Blood Business website lists hundreds of businesses, organisations and land owners that are connected to hunting with dogs and/or shooting birds or mammals. Our latest entry, a church in Dorset, may surprise many people.

St Peter's Church is located in Purse Caundle, and the vicar, Reverend Canon Richard Hancock, was photographed this week as he welcomed the Purbeck and Bovington Beagles to his St Hubert's service. While such services are often given in recognition of rural life, St Hubert was known for his passion for hunting and is the Christian patron saint of hunting.

Washing his hands of responsibility

The Purbeck and Bovington Beagles hunt hares. Lesser known than their fox hunting friends, there are roughly 40 beagle packs active across England, Wales and Northern Ireland (and none in Scotland), which hunt on foot. Hare hunting takes place between late August and early September, and finishes in March.

Having seen the photos of the reverend posing with the hounds, Action Against Foxhunting's Pip Donovan phoned Hancock to try to have a conversation with him about why he welcomed the pack. Donovan said Hancock refused to listen to her and reportedly hung up on her. And so Donovan urged wildlife defenders to contact the church to voice their concerns.

Since then, Hancock has emailed her, saying he is receiving abusive emails, and still refusing to meet in person. He stated that the Beagles were not invited prior to the ceremony, but that two members of the hunt - a man and a teenage boy - attended the service with the dogs. He told Donovan that as a clergyman it is not his role to quiz people who come to the church about criminal activities they may have been involved with.

However, Reverend Hancock also told Donovan that he sat on the Dorset Rural Crime Commission and that he is aware of illegal activities by some hunts. It seems fair to assume that he didn't just pose with members of the Purbeck and Bovington Beagles in complete ignorance of what a beagle pack does. As someone who was previously immersed in rural crime issues, he will be well aware of the many hunts that operate within Dorset (including fox hunting packs like the notorious Portman Hunt), the hunt havoc they cause to local residents, and their tactics to evade the hunting ban. Like other hare hunting packs, the Purbeck and Bovington Beagles get around Hunting Act legislation by saying that it is rabbiting - that is, chasing and killing rabbits, which aren't protected by law (see here, for example).

Hancock also told Donovan that he duly obliged when the mother of the teenage boy asked him to pose for a photo with the hunt. The mother in question is hunter Chrissy Osborne, a notorious animal abuser, renowned in sabbing circles for her violent outbursts. She is a terrier woman for the Courtenay Tracy Mink Hounds - which causes carnage on river banks in an attempt to kill mink and otters.

According to hunt saboteurs, the second man posing in the photo with the reverend is the Purbeck and Bovington's huntsman, Tony Stickland. Stickland's Facebook page includes a photo of another clergyman blessing his hounds in 2022. Note that the approving commenter, Adam Cullingford, says on his own Facebook profile that he is engaged to Chrissy Osborne!

Legitimising hunting

Donovan told Protect the Wild:

"I have visited St Peter's Church. It's a beautiful and peaceful place. Standing there, I felt sad to think that an organisation that unapologetically abuses wild animals is welcome there."

Meanwhile, Two Counties Hunt Saboteurs told us:

"With British wildlife declining at a terrifying rate, it is extremely disappointing to see St Peter's Church welcoming the hunt."

Protect the Wild contacted the Reverend Hancock for a comment, and asked him to reconsider welcoming the hunt in the future. At the time of publishing this article we had received no reply from him, but did later receive a generic, paragraph from Rebecca Paveley, Director of Communications and Engagement at Salisbury Anglican Church, which failed to address the issues raised at all: “The service was an annual service to thank God for all those who work and live in the countryside and everyone was welcome to attend.”

The Church of England should at the very least understand that including everyone who works in the countryside - including hunters, terriermen, gamekeepers, and other wildlife persecutors - in the same outdated ‘blessing’ is actually offensive to many of us. It also has a responsibility to speak out against hunting with dogs. As an institution that preaches moral values to its clergy, Protect the Wild argues that the reverend must know that he is respected in his community, and therefore wields great responsibility because - whether he or his comms team appreciates the fact or not - he legitimises hunting by posing with uniformed hunters and their hounds.

We say that the Church - and therefore Reverend Hancock - has a duty to lead by example and promote the compassion that it preaches.

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