Hunt sabs hold historic meeting in parliament after 60 years of activism

Hunt saboteurs were invited to meet with MPs in parliament for the first time in their 60 years of pro-wildlife activism

Hunt saboteurs were welcomed into the House of Commons to meet with MPs on 9 January. This is the first time that the activists have attended parliament to talk with MPs in their over 60 years of sabbing hunts.

Poole MP Neil Duncan-Jordan invited hunt saboteurs to meet with a cross-party group of MPs on 9 January. As North London Hunt Saboteurs (NLHS) explained in a Facebook post on the historic moment, sabs were given the opportunity to share their first-hand experiences of witnessing illegal hunting. Activists also laid out evidence showing that "trail hunting only exists on paper, and is used to give deniability to illegal fox hunting," NLHS wrote, and made their case for toughening fox hunting laws.

The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) turned 60 in 2023, having originally formed in the winter of 1963. South Devon was the first hunt to be sabbed by the group - on Boxing Day of that year. Hunting was still legal then, so the goal was to "make it impossible for people to hunt by confusing the hounds," as HSA founder John Prestige said at the time.

After the Hunting Act passed in 2004, the role of hunt saboteurs should have changed. With hunting illegal from this point on, monitoring hunts to check they were operating within the law should have been all that remained for activists to do. But saboteurs – both HSA-affliated and independent groups – routinely have to try to intervene to stop hunts killing wildlife some twenty years on from the Hunting Act coming into force. This demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that the law needs an overhaul.

Delay is not an option

The Labour government claims that it gets this and will ban trail hunting, which it acknowledges is "being exploited as a smokescreen to cruelly kill foxes and hares." However, considering the government's already established tendency to say one thing and then do something else, it's important that ministers like Steve Reed feel the heat to fulfill their promises from inside and outside parliament.

The fact that hunt sabs were given the opportunity to share their experiences and knowledge with MPs makes internal parliamentary pressure more likely. As NLHS' Philip Walters notes, it also "reflects a change in attitude towards activists who, for 60 years, have put themselves between the hunt and their prey." Walters says:

"Despite committing their almost unlimited resources to deceiving the British public and subjecting those who object to abuse and violence, the lies of the hunting lobby have been unravelled by a group of dedicated volunteers and their supporters.

It’s now down to the government to end hunting for good with comprehensive and enforceable legislation. Every week they delay, innocent animals are suffering and dying."

Protect the Wild firmly agrees that the government must act swiftly to end hunting for good. Add your name to our petition calling on the government to take prompt action to protect wildlife.

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