Hunting Update - Two hunters found guilty of assaults on sabs and more
February 2026 saw several hunt members convicted for violence against wildlife and wildlife defenders alike. Meanwhile - as we wait for the Labour government to make good on its promise to ban the facade of ‘trail hunting’ - UK hunts have recently been caught on camera killing hares, foxes and deer. As usual, their actions show a complete disregard for the Hunting Act.
Also in this update:
Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan is calling on the government to tighten up all the loopholes in the Hunting Act, not just some.
We name and shame the worst UK hunts, according to the statistics.
In late January, Northants Hunt Saboteurs caught terriermen hired by the Cottesmore Hunt red-handed as they were digging out a badger sett. This shameful action came barely a month after the British Hound Sports Association caved to pressure and issued guidance that fox hunts should not engage in terrierwork.
Hunts across the UK continued to cause havoc on the roads as their hounds ran out of control. One dog was tragically killed in Teeside while a hunt in North Wales abandoned another.
February 2026 saw several convictions for hunt-related violence
On 19 February Protect the Wild reported the dramatic conviction of Philip Saunders, huntsman for the Pipewell Foot Beagles, who admitted breaking Section 1 of the Hunting Act after encouraging hounds to kill a hare.
Footage taken by wildlife defender Emma Reed went viral, leading to Saunders’ arrest. Saunders even had his hunting horn confiscated by the court. But the charges that had been brought against master and whipper-in Rachael Lenton as well as the Pipewell Foot Beagles Limited as a body corporate were dropped.
The prosecution against Sam Jones of the Cottesmore Hunt, however, was unsuccessful. Jones was on trial for an incident on 18 January 2025 where he is heard “doubling” his hunting horn, urging the pack on toward a fox. His acquittal by Leicester Magistrates Court on 5 February prompted Northants Hunt Saboteurs to write that “the law is not fit for purpose and is continuing to fail wildlife.”
During February there have been two other hunt-related convictions for violence against wildlife defenders.
Nathan Goulding, joint hunt-master of the Cotswold Vale Farmers Hunt, was found guilty of assault and battery after he rode his horse at two female hunt saboteurs during a hunt meet on 21 January this year.
His case was heard in Cheltenham Magistrates Court on 20 February.
The Hunt Saboteurs Association wrote:
“Hunts should know that the days of assaulting sabs with impunity from the law are over, and that the internet has a very long memory.
Well done to Welsh Border Hunt Sabs for pursuing this conviction.”
The court ordered Goulding to pay £676 in court costs and issued him with a six-month conditional discharge (essentially a slap on the wrist).
Banned from using a shotgun
On 4 February, Norfolk/Suffolk Hunt Saboteurs (NSHS) reported that Toby Flemming - the owner of Eastgate Farm in Marham - was ordered to pay a fine of £1536 after being convicted of common assault on a lone female wildlife defender.
Flemming also had his shotgun license revoked.
NSHS wrote on their Facebook page:
“We hope not to see him with a shotgun shooting hares.
We will be watching you.”
The group told Protect the Wild:
“All of us at Norfolk and Suffolk Hunt Sabs welcome the conviction of Toby Flemming. There are far too many attacks on Sabs that are ignored or cases messed up or lost. We are glad the right outcome happened here. We are also happy his shotgun license was revoked so he can’t kill any more hares this year.”
Hunt sab headbutted
The cases of Goulding and Flemming are by no means isolated incidents. In fact, yet another hunt member was arrested on 24 January. Beds & Bucks Hunt Saboteurs (BBHS) were working that day with Peterborough Hunt Sabs, trying to prevent wildlife crimes by the Fitzwilliam Hunt. BBHS described on their Facebook page how Fitzwilliam huntsman Shaun Parish:
“became highly agitated and abusive after he was prevented from hunting and proceeded to dismount his horse and act in an aggressive manner”
At the same time, Fitzwilliam rider George Kennedy used a horse as a weapon to pin a sab up against a tree.
The whole incident was filmed by sabs and Parish was arrested by officers from Cambridgeshire Police after he headbutted one activist, then took off his riding hat and hit them in the face with it.
The three convictions above, together with the violence by the Fitzwilliam Hunt, show once again the menace that hunts pose to our wildlife and to members of the public. As parliament dithers over when to hold the consultation over Labour’s long-promised ban on ‘trail hunting’, hunts are left to run wild.
If you’ve been affected by violence and abuse from the hunt it can be useful to get mental health support. Protect the Wild is funding a trained counsellor who can provide sessions to monitors and sabs. Click here to find out more.
Check out our Protectors of the Wild page on ‘Assaults and the Law’.
Donate to Welsh Border Hunt Sabs here.
Help Norfolk/Suffolk Hunt Saboteurs buy more body cameras, to enable them to pursue convictions like the one against Toby Flemming. Click here to donate.
Support Beds & Bucks Hunt Saboteurs.
Labour’s Neil Duncan-Jordan calls for an end to the falconry exemption
The government has confirmed - in answer to a written question by Montgomery and Glyndŵr Labour MP Neil Steve Witherden - that it has made “no assessment” of the effectiveness of the falconry exemption, which governs the use of birds of prey in fox hunting, and it has no plans to close up the loophole.
The 2004 Hunting Act’s falconry exemption states that “flushing a wild mammal from cover is exempt hunting if undertaken… for the purpose of enabling a bird of prey to hunt the wild mammal”. Unlike other exemptions contained in the Hunting Act, this one doesn’t contain a two-dog limit. As a result, a full pack of hunting hounds is legally able to flush out a fox or hare for a bird of prey to then kill.
Since 2004, ‘falconry’ has provided a ready-made smokescreen for hunts to get away with hunting with hounds. In 2005, DEFRA noted its concern that many hunts were rushing to buy raptors, as the presence of the birds at a hunt is a sure-fire way to establish plausible deniability over whether hunts are intending to flout the law.
In 2018, the falconry exemption was tested out in court in 2018 when huntsman George Adams and falconer John Mease of the Fitzwilliam Hunt found themselves in the dock. Adams was convicted of illegal hunting, but Mease was acquitted on the grounds that the hounds on the day were not his responsibility.
Minister confirms that exemption will not be reviewed
Witherden had asked what assessment has been made by DEFRA of the effectiveness of exemptions permitting the use of birds of prey in fox hunting activities; and whether it planned to review its policies.
Dame Angela Eagle - Labour minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - replied that:
“The department has made no assessment of the effectiveness of exemptions permitting the use of birds of prey in fox hunting activities and has no plans to review those provisions.”
Duncan-Jordan: ‘This loophole has got to go!’
Poole’s Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan has expressed concern to the Minister over the response. He wrote:
“The falconry exemption is a classic smokescreen for hunting with hounds. You wouldn’t fox hunt with a falcon - the British Hawk Board warns against even attempting it. A hunter was even caught on tape calling the exemption “a good wheeze”. This loophole has got to go!
We need a truly watertight ban that removes the covers used to kill wildlife. I’ve warned ministers for months: a narrow focus on trail hunting alone won’t cut it.”
According to Protect the Wild’s Rob Pownall:
“It’s absurd that the government says it won’t even look at the falconry exemption when hunts routinely hide behind exemptions like this to continue their sordid activities. If we’re serious about a watertight ban on hunting, every exemption and every loophole must be properly examined and closed.”
Use Protect the Wild’s automated tool to email your MP and demand that they ensure that Labour follows through with enacting a proper ban on hunting, including closing ALL the loopholes.
Foxes, deer and hares killed by hunts during February
Hunts have continued their cruel bloodsport over the last month, and it’s not just foxes that have fallen victim.
The Rural Crime Team at Cambridgeshire Constabulary is investigating the killing of a hare by the Thurlow Hunt on 26 January at Horse Heath in Cambridgeshire. North London Hunt Saboteurs released this GRAPHIC FOOTAGE:
On 9 February, the Thurlow’s hounds killed another hare, this time near Weston Colville in Suffolk.
Deer fall victim too
On 21 February, Northants Hunt Saboteurs reported that the Cottesmore Hunt’s pack ripped apart and killed what appeared to be a muntjac deer. Huntsman Sam Jones, undeterred by his recent brush with the law, disposed of the animal’s body. They wrote:
“Jones can be seen dismounting his horse to pick up the dead animal and toss it over the saddle of his horse. We can’t be 100% sure that this wasn’t a fox but what we can be certain of is that the Cottesmore killed a wild mammal and have been caught out again!
A life is a life and the Cottesmore have sadly taken another.”
The Middleton Hunt’s pack also mauled a deer on 31 January, and police were called to put the animal down. Calder Valley Hunt Saboteurs wrote angrily: “Is no animal safe from these killers?”
Fox’s tail ‘a sick trophy’
Several foxes were killed too in February. On the same day as the muntjac was killed, Herefordshire Hunt Saboteurs caught the Herefordshire and Clifton Hunt’s terriermen blocking up a badger sett. They were dismayed to find that they had arrived too late. A fox’s brush lay on the ground like “a sick trophy of the kill”. That day, Cirencester Illegal Hunt Watch, Bristol Hunt Saboteurs and Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs also sabbed the Beaufort Hunt, who blocked up badger setts, terrorised wildlife, and killed yet another fox.
As Labour continues to sit on its hands, wildlife is paying the price.
Please help North London Hunt Saboteurs carry on the fight against the likes of the Thurlow. They are currently fundraising money needed for their 4x4s. You can make a donation to their ongoing work here.
Donate to support Northants Hunt Sabs to protect wildlife from the menace of the Cottesmore.
Check out Cirencester Illegal Hunt Watch.
Make a contribution to Herefordshire Hunt Saboteurs and/or to Calder Valley Hunt Saboteurs.
Which are the worst hunts in the UK?
Ever wondered which hunts are the biggest menace to wildlife and wildlife defenders in the UK?
Protect the Wild was asked this question by a supporter recently. We put together these statistics from the data we’ve been collecting since 2023, gathered from open-source reports shared by hunt saboteurs and monitors.
Here’s what we came up with...
The data below shows numbers of foxes chased, foxes killed as well as major and minor attacks on wildlife defenders and other members of the public.
As you can see, some of the UK’s worst hunts are:
Gloucestershire’s Beaufort Hunt, King Charles and Camilla’s old hunting crew, who Protect the Wild and the Hunt Investigation Team filmed shooting their hunting hounds in the head after they were no longer deemed of use to the hunt.
North Dorset based Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt (BSV) are consistently high up on the list too. They shocked Channel 4 viewers in 2024 when the tearing up of a fox in a residential garden at Pelsham Farm the previous year hit the headlines. Four of them were convicted under the Hunting Act last year. They are notoriously violent to members of the public too - in 2024, Dorset Police Rural Crime Team arrested two men associated with the BSV Hunt after a string of attacks against hunt sabs and their property.
The East Midlands-based Cottesmore are up there as well. They have become infamous for hiring thugs to attack sabs and their vehicles. Dorset’s Cattistock Hunt is also worth a mention. They were caught red-handed last year killing a fox at Abbotsbury Swannery and narrowly escaped conviction in 2023 after chasing a fox onto a railway line.
Finally, last ‘season’s’ top three included Devon’s Eggesford Hunt, who shocked wildlife defenders last year when they began 2025 by killing a fox and a deer at two separate meets.
Cheshire’s Wynnstay Hunt - another group that has been hiring thugs to attack sabs and monitors - was observed killing the highest number of foxes last ‘season’. They were caught in the act 11 times, according to Protect the Wild’s figures.
These six hunts stand out when you look at the number of foxes that sabs and monitors have observed being chased and killed over the past three years, coupled with reports of violence toward wildlife defenders and other members of the public. However, there are sadly plenty more who are worthy of mention for other reasons.
The figures speak for themselves really. We thought they might be a handy guide for those of us who aren’t up for waiting for parliament to finally act and tighten the loopholes to allow this barbaric bloodsport to continue. Hunt saboteurs and wildlife monitors are the frontline defence for our wildlife. If you’re not already in touch with your local group, why not make 2026 the year to get involved.
Check out the Hunt Saboteurs Association’s list of local sab groups.
Cottesmore terriermen caught red-handed on a dig-out
Despite the British Hound Sports Associations’ (BHSA) December 2025 ruling that ‘terrierwork’ should be separated from supposed ‘trail-hunting’, the Cottesmore Hunt has been carrying on business as usual regardless.
During the Hunting Office’s leaked Zoom webinars held in 2020, Mark Hankinson (then Director of the Masters of Foxhounds Association) described terriermen as the “soft underbelly“ of so-called ‘trail hunting’. Hankinson used the phrase because it is impossible to justify the presence of terriermen - whose traditional role is to ‘dig out’ foxes - during a ‘trail hunt’.
The BHSA made their ruling at the end of last year, in a move that smacked of desperation. Their decision came as the government was renewing its promises to hold a consultation on a ban on ‘trail hunting’ and in the wake of the arrests of members of several hunts, following the filming of a dig out at a meet organised by the Coniston Foxhounds.
Cottesmore terriermen flee
On 20 January, Northants Hunt Saboteurs (NHS) caught the Cottesmore Hunt’s balaclava-clad terriermen busy trying to dig a fox from a badger sett. NHS described the reaction of the terriermen:
“Hunt terrier-men, so desperate not to be identified fled the scene leaving their poor bloodied terrier behind. The terrified abandoned terrier eventually ran away.”
NHS wrote on their Facebook page:
“Hunting cannot regulate itself, in our recommendations for the amended Hunting Act we are calling on the government to bring an end to all current exemptions.”
Terriermen were a regular feature of hunt meets during February 2026, despite the BHSA’s supposed ban in late 2025. Check out the HSA’s recent report, What Terrier Man Ban?
At Protect the Wild we also oppose the cruelty of ‘terrierwork’. Please check out our campaign to end ‘terrierwork’ here.
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.
And here’s another reminder to donate to support the awesome Northants Hunt Saboteurs if you can.
Foxhound killed on the road in Teeside
In the last month several hounds have been lost, injured or killed on the roads, showing once again that hunts couldn’t care less about them.
On 28 January, Teeside-Anti Bloodsports (TABS) reported that a hound belonging to the Zetland Hunt had tragically been killed on the High Coniscliffe-Piercebridge Road. On top of that, Northants Hunt Sabs videoed a hunting dog being hit by a car as the Fitzwilliam Hunt’s pack pursued a fox across a road on 31 January.
Hound abandoned by the hunt
Wildlife photographer Richard Bowler was surprised to find a lost foxhound on his property on 01 February in North Wales. Despite shouting “Does anyone want their hound back” repeatedly, he couldn’t find the hunt. It seemed clear that they weren’t looking for the lost hound. Eventually, Bowler was able to return the dog to people who knew the local hunt.
The reports of killed, injured and lost hounds are all too common. Hunts treat dogs as tools, not like the sentient beings they are. Bowler wrote angrily on Facebook:
“This is another reason why hunting with dogs needs to be banned, I’ve lost count of the days I had to protect our property from this gun pack. Only last year I had to see a fox to safety being chased by their hounds.”
Check out Protect the Wild’s Hunt Havoc website, detailing the road chaos caused on a regular basis by hunts across the UK.
Image of Boxing Day Hunt violence via Screenshot/Glen Black. Picture of Toby Flemming via Norfolk/Suffolk Hunt Saboteurs. Image of Kestrel perching on gloved hand via David White/Unsplash. Picture of Zetland Hunt Hound killed on road courtesy of Teeside-Anti Blood Sports. Video of abandoned hound in North Wales from wildlife photographer Richard Bowler’s Facebook. Image of Sam Jones and the slain muntjac deer courtesy of Northants Hunt Saboteurs.
Thanks again to all the wildlife defenders who have let us use their footage and pictures. Sabs and monitors often put themselves at significant personal risk to get these images. We appreciate and admire all of the groups and individuals working to end the cruelty of hunting.
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I hope the sabs are ok and get justice.
A excellent article. I live in a rural area that is infested by several fox hunts and at least one hare coursing pack, as well as being visited regularly by two different stag hunts. As someone who has been forced to live with the horrors of hunt crime for many years, just because of where I live, I can confirm that these people are the worst of the worst, not just organised criminals but brutal sociopaths, bullies, and entitled antisocial yobs. My family and I are literally desperate for help. We just hope Labour will do what they promised or it'll carry on for another two decades. One idea for a campaign: if more of us call the police to report hunt crime, they'll have to spend more of their budget handling it. Thus wasting vast amounts of taxpayer money that they can not afford to lose. Financially, if hunting continued, it could prove a catastrophe to the police. In a world where money talks, it might be worth a go. I always advise people to call 999 if they see a hunt in progress and register their presence via a 101 if it isn't urgent. The police have recommended this action themselves. I shall stop ranting now! Love and peace x