November: Dig-Out Horror, Racist Abuse, Lawbreaking Hound Packs
In this mid November hunting update we report the arrest of seven people in Ambleside, Cumbria, for illegal fox hunting after Lake District Hunt Saboteurs and the Hunt Saboteurs Association released shocking footage of the Coniston Foxhounds digging out a terrified fox and throwing her to the hounds to be ripped apart.
In other news:
The government’s long awaited consultation on banning trail hunting has finally been set for early 2026.
The huntsman of the Holderness Hunt was caught on camera using a racist slur against a member of Hull Wildlife Protectors.
The Quantock Staghounds have been caught hunting with SIX dogs, when legislation only allows a maximum of two.
Northants Hunt Saboteurs have scuppered the Cottesmore Hunt’s attempts to kill three foxes at their November meets.
Arrests made over shocking Coniston Foxhounds footage
On Saturday 8 November the Lake District’s Coniston Foxhounds were caught on camera digging a terrified fox out of her hiding place and cruelly throwing her to be torn apart by a waiting pack of hounds.
Lake District Hunt Saboteurs (LDHS) and the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) released this shocking footage of the killing, triggering public outrage. Now Cumbria Constabulary has made a total of seven arrests over this blatant breach of the Hunting Act.
Cumbria Constabulary, who were working with the National wildlife Crime Unit, wrote:
“We are aware of a video which has circulated online and understand the strength of feeling this has caused within some of our communities.
Those in police custody have been arrested on suspicion of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal, with one of the individuals also arrested on suspicion of a firearms offence. Further arrests are also planned.”
All of the seven people arrested have since been released on bail.
Despite the arrests and the wealth of video evidence, we at Protect the Wild won’t be holding our breaths for any sort of justice from the court system. Past experience has shown that even the most blatant breaches of the current legislation often fail to produce a successful prosecution. To give just one example, In mid-October Grafton huntmaster Roger James Brown was found not guilty of Hunting Act breaches, despite eyewitness testimony of the Grafton Hunt flagrantly hunting in front of pupils and teachers at Stowe School. We need a proper ban on so-called ‘trail hunting’ that can stop this killing once and for all.
Response from pro-hunting organisations
Besides the arrests, the viral video has resulted in the suspension of the Coniston Foxhounds from the British Hound Sports Association and the referral of the Hunt to the Association’s regulatory body, the Hound Sports Regulation Authority (HSRA).
However we’ve seen this all before too. Hunts can’t be trusted to regulate themselves. To give just one example, in 2023 the notorious Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt was suspended and referred to the HSRA when a video of the cruel killing of a fox, which the hunt had cornered while trespassing in a residential garden at Pelsham Farm, was screened on national television. The suspension only lasted for the remainder of that hunting ‘season’ and the HSRA’s purely symbolic ruling fell short of permanently suspending the BSV.
The shocking footage of the cruel killing by the Coniston Foxhounds comes at a pivotal moment, as the UK government has finally set a date for its consultation on banning trail hunting (see below). Just in case the public needed any illustration of how embarrassed the hunting community is about the release of the damning Lake District footage at this crucial juncture, on the day that the footage of the fox being thrown to the hounds was released, the HSA revealed that the pro-hunt Countryside Alliance advocacy group dropped the Coniston Foxhounds from a list of hunts eligible for its support.
Pattern of cruelty
Protect the Wild’s Charlotte Smith wrote last week about the recent killing of the fox by Coniston Foxhounds:
“This isn’t a one-off. It’s part of a pattern of cruelty that has become all too familiar. In 2023, footage from the disgraced Avon Vale Hunt showed almost identical scenes, a fox dug out, thrown to hounds, another fleeing in terror. How many times must we see the same horror before something changes?
How can the public trust hunts that are caught red-handed time and again, yet still insist they’re following a “trail”? They can’t, and this footage proves it once more. Because the moment hunts believe no one is watching, the smokescreen fades, the masks fall, and the ugly reality of bloodsport returns.”
The damning footage of the fox being thrown to dogs by Coniston Foxhounds is a sickening reminder of how little regard hunters pay to the Hunting Act, more than two decades after it became law.
Please support the Lake District Hunt Saboteurs and share their footage.
Labour finally sets a timetable for its public consultation on banning trail hunting
The government has finally given a rough date for its long-promised public consultation on strengthening the ban on ‘trail hunting’. Labour pledged in its 2024 election manifesto to enact a new ban. However, the party has been dragging its feet since promising a consultation earlier this year. Now Dame Angela Eagle, the new Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has confirmed that the consultation is planned for “early next year”.
Eagle’s statement was in answer to a parliamentary question raised by Liverpool Labour MP Ian Byrne. she responded:
“This Government is committed to enacting a ban on trail hunting in line with our manifesto commitment. Work to determine the best approach for doing so is ongoing and a consultation seeking views on how to deliver a full ban will be held early next year.”
Eagle went further, criticising the chaos caused in rural communities by out of control hounds and highlighting the fact that hunts often use the fig-leaf of ‘accidental’ chasing of animals to mask breaches of the 2004 Hunting Act. She said:
“The nature of trail hunting makes it very difficult to do safely. The use of large packs of hounds reduces the control huntsmen have, putting wild mammals, household pets and even members of the public at risk.
Trail hunting also provides a convenient cover for those seeking to participate in illegal hunting activities by obscuring their intention and enabling the inevitable chasing of animals to be labelled as ‘accidental’. This is why we want an effective, enforceable ban that truly protects our wildlife, countryside, and rural communities.”
Promise to involve ‘stakeholders’
On 13 November, Eagle reiterated the government’s intention for the consultation to take place in early 2026 and claimed that:
“Stakeholder engagement will form an important element of the consultation process, and we will ensure everyone has the opportunity to give their views and present their evidence.”
As people who want to see a proper ban on trail hunting coming out of the upcoming consultation, Protect the Wild hopes that the government will spend as much time listening to animal rights campaigners as they do pandering to fox hunting’s deeply privileged advocates.
We’ve already been waiting over a year since Labour pledged to strengthen the ban on trail hunting. Let’s hope that there are no more delays to the consultation. When it finally happens, we need wildlife defenders to raise their voices just as loud as the likes of the pro-hunting Countryside Alliance.
Use Protect the Wild’s automated tool to email your MP and demand a proper ban on hunting.
Read ‘20 Years On: The true face of hunting with hounds in 2025’.
Holderness huntsman directs racial slur against wildlife defender
At the Holderness Hunt’s opening meet Hull Wildlife Protectors (HWP) videoed Holderness huntsman William Bethell racially abusing a wildlife defender.
In the above video. Bethell addresses a HWP volunteer as “Mr Golliwog”.
‘Golliwog’ refers to the anti-Black stereotyped characters in Twentieth Century children’s fiction, popularised by the famous English author Enid Blyton, who has been widely criticised for racism, xenophobia and sexism. Its not clear why Bethell levelled this slur against the monitor as the person concerned isn’t Black. HWP members surmise that it may have been a reference to the person’s haircut. Whatever Bethell’s intentions were, the language is clearly unnaceptable.
HWP wrote on their Facebook page:
“At the Holderness Hunt’s opening meet earlier this month (which children were present at), hunt master Bethell shocked one of our volunteers with a racist slur, an appalling incident that feels more at home in another era. The comment was offensive and completely unacceptable.
Bethell’s racial insults belong where fox hunting does, firmly in the past.”
‘A toxic culture that sits at the heart of hunting’
Protect the Wild’s Rob Pownall commented:
“The language used against a Hull Wildlife Monitors member by the Holderness Hunt’s huntsman is disgusting and completely indefensible. It exposes, yet again, the toxic culture that sits at the heart of hunting. This behaviour must be called out and challenged every single time.”
Holderness Hunt supporter and Danny lamb was reportedly present at the meet too. Lamb was sentenced to two years and four months in prison after he plead guilty to a charge of violent disorder during Hull’s August 2024 racist riots. Amongst other things, Lamb admitted throwing a smoke bomb towards a hotel where asylum seekers were living.
No surprise
To be honest its no surprise that Bethell would use racist language against hunt monitors. Racist abuse is, sadly, par for the course at hunt meets. For example:
In August 2024 Ex-South Dorset huntsman Josh Tierney was found guilty after racially harassing a hunt saboteur from Weymouth Animal Rights.
Also in August 2024, a Wynnstay Hunt security man was convicted of racial abuse. Anthony Williams was one of the Wynnstay’s hired thugs on 6 January 2024. Cheshire Hunt Saboteurs reported that Williams jumped out of his car, shouting “f*ck off” repeatedly at sabs. He then said to one sab, “you do not belong in this country.”
In February 2023, another man – also associated with the Wynnstay Hunt – found himself in court. Ian Jones harassed Cheshire Borderland Monitors member, performing the Nazi salute repeatedly.
On 17 December 2022, North London Hunt Sabs filmed members of two hunts – the Puckeridge Hunt and the Essex with Farmers and Union Hunt (which have since merged to become one hunt). Footage showed hunt staff racially abusing a saboteur of colour. One man attempted to impersonate an accent, shouting “roll another spliff”, while the Puckeridge hunt master asked the sab if “there is a zoo around here”.
Its clear that the racialised language used by Bethell is by no means an isolated incident. Pro-hunt advocates talk about hunting as a ‘proud countryside tradition’, but racism - together with speciesism and violence - are deep in the heart of this barbaric practice.
If you’ve been affected by abuse from the hunt when out sabbing or when taking action to protect animals it can be useful to get mental health support. We’ve teamed up with Dr Ishani Rao to fund support sessions. Click here to find out more.
Quantock Staghounds filmed hunting with SIX hounds
Wildlife monitors from Holford Against Hunting caught the Quantock Staghounds on camera hunting with a total of six dogs, when the law allows a maximum of two. Deer are fully protected by the Hunting Act 2004, but stag hunts use the ‘Observation and Research’ exemption which allows hunting with two dogs.
The above video clearly shows six dogs out hunting with the Quantock Staghounds.
On top of that, even if the Quantock Staghounds weren’t over the legal limit of dogs allowed, the ‘Observation and Research’ exemption only applies in the case of genuine research “for the purpose of or in connection with the observation or study of the wild mammal.” As Protect the Wild has pointed out time and time again, no peer-reviewed ‘research’ has EVER been published by any hunt. Supposed observation and research is just another way for hunts to get around the Act and carry on hunting just as they always have done, despite over two decades since the ban.
The above video is another clear example that stag hunts don’t have any intention of complying with wildlife protection legislation. We need a workable ban, without loopholes and get-out clauses.
Sign our petition calling for a proper ban on hunting, and check out our proposal for a workable ban on the hunting of mammals with hounds.
Make a donation to North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs and help them to protect stags and hinds from the likes of Quantock Staghounds.
Check out Protect the Wild’s explainer article on ‘The Brutal Reality of Stag Hunting’.
Read Protect the Wild’s pages on ‘Deer Hunting‘ and ‘Deer and the Law’.
Three foxes saved by Northants sabs!
Finally, to end with some good news, sabs from Northants Hunt Saboteurs have managed to stop the Cottesmore Hunt from killing at least three foxes so far in November.
Northants Hunt Saboteurs (NHS) have been out sabbing at all of the Cottesmore Hunt’s meets in November, along with their brand new drone.
On 1 November the group narrowly averted a fox being caught by the Cottesmore after sabs closed the gate in the path of the hunt. Angry at being prevented from making a kill, Max Logan (who was recently up in court for allegedly blocking a badger sett) rode his horse at a nearby sab. Thankfully no one was injured.
The Cottesmore clearly didn’t ‘give a damn’ about their hounds
A few days later, another incident proved once and again how little respect hunts show to their dogs. On 4 November the Cottesmore were out again with their hounds dangerously out of control. So much so that NHS commented that it was only luck that prevented any of the dogs from being killed on the road.
One hound became trapped in wire fencing and became very distressed. NHS wrote on their Facebook page:
“It is not clear how long this dog had been lay on their back and in agony for before sabs were alerted to the howling and barking from this injured animal. It took two sabs to prize open the wire fence and free the dog, such was the grip it had on this poor dogs foot. Not one member of the hunt was around to give a damn!”
This disdain for their hounds was underlined again on 13 November, when Max Logan was seen hitting a dog with his whip.
Two more foxes saved
On 11 November, at a meet at Braunston-in-Rutland, NHS were able to dull the scent of two foxes who were being pursued by the Cottesmore’s Hounds. The ploy successfully threw the hounds off the trail. The Hunt again responded with violence, with one female sab having a gate slammed into her by the Cottesmore’s joint master Rory Bevin.
The fact that Northants Hunt Saboteurs have been able to save three foxes so far in November shows yet again that direct action is the frontline defence for wildlife against the violence and cruelty of hunts. Sabs and monitors put themselves in considerable danger in order to save foxes and other animals from being ripped apart by the hunt. They deserve our support.
Find out about joining your local group of hunt saboteurs.
Donate toward Northants Hunt Sabs’ fuel costs.
Northants Hunt Sabs dedicated their 5 November action against the Cottesmore to Barry Horne, an ex-Northants hunt saboteur and imprisoned animal rights defender who died on hunger strike on 5 November 2001 while demanding a public enquiry into the use of animals in research. Read more about Barry here.
Houses of Parliament picture by Adrian Pingstone / Wikimedia, Holderness Hunt video by Hull Wildlife Protectors, video of Coniston Fox Hounds dig-out via Hunt Saboteur’s Association/Lake District Hunt Saboteurs. Footage of Quantock Staghounds courtesy of North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs/Holford Against Hunting. Image of the Cottesmore Hunt via Northants Hunt Sabs.
Thanks PTW, another great article. Please continue to provide the HSA local group link in future pieces. Our wonderful sabs need all the help and support they can get❤️🦊💪
Thanks to those brave sabs who have to put up with the hunts abusing them every day .This is so out of order.