Mark Tiffin, man behind 'Rose' crowdfunder, is notorious badger baiter and terrierman

Tiffin portrays himself as a saviour but paraded Rose at a bare-knuckle fight this week!

A recent GoFundMe crowdfunder to rescue a little dog called Rose captured the hearts of the public. Within hours, people had donated to save Rose, who was stuck 26ft inside a cliff. The current amount raised stands at a whopping £17,564. But the beneficiary of this money is a man called Mark Tiffin - a notorious and well-known animal abuser.

Rose's plight recently became national news. On 3 October the BBC reported that the dog had been saved after a seven-day rescue mission:

"A dog which spent a week trapped 26ft (8m) into a cliff face has been freed by volunteers. Rose the Jack Russell fell into a small crack in a steep section of the cliff between Illingworth and Halifax, West Yorkshire, on 26 September.

Volunteers have been working at the site each day despite fears over safety, with heavy machinery used to drill into the rock.

In a video live-streamed on social media, Rose was seen being carried from the scene wrapped in a coat, with one rescuer saying the pet was going "straight to the vets"."

Tiffin posted numerous videos on his Facebook page of the rescue operation, asking people to donate. He also posted photos of himself with the dog after she was saved.

The GoFundMe page for Rose

Badger baiting

Tiffin, who was named as the person receiving the crowdfunder money, is a professional bare-knuckle fighter with a long history of animal abuse. Back in 2011, he was found guilty, along with two other men, of hunting a wild mammal with dogs. Evidence showed that he was badger baiting, an illegal blood sport where men send terriers down a sett to find a badger and attack her, either to draw her out or hold her at bay, while the men dig her out.

At the time, the media wrote:

"North Yorkshire Police arrested all three in Gateforth, Selby, in January 2010, after a landowner and a member of the public reported seeing a maroon Range Rover and three men with dogs and shovels on private land."

The men had been spotted by members of Selby Badger Watch. The landowner, who heard digging noises, also questioned the men at the time. They told him that one of their dogs had escaped and had chased a rabbit down a hole.

Selby Badger Watch called the police, who stopped and searched the men's vehicle. They found two shovels covered in dirt, nets and other equipment, along with two small terrier dogs, who had dirt on them too. One dog suffered from an injured ear.

The men were given a conditional discharge for two years. At the time of sentencing, Tiffin was serving a 12-month prison sentence for causing death by dangerous driving.

Mark Tiffin, photographed with Rose on his Facebook page

Terrierman

Tiffin is well-known amongst those who monitor fox hunting packs. He has been terrierman for the newly-named Badsworth, Bramham, York and South Hunt: a hunt formed by the amalgamation of the Badsworth and Bramham Moor and the York and Ainsty South Hunts. Terrier work involves a 'terrierman' putting terriers below ground to follow foxes (or other wild mammals). The terrier is trained to display aggression towards the fox, while the fox is likely to return that aggression in self-defence.

Note the handle Tiffin chose for this social media account - foxdigging17...

Back in 2019, York Anti Hunt League was monitoring the two hunts as they hunted fox cubs. The group wrote:

"we thought that we would share with you our ‘surprise’ to find the familiar face of Mark Tiffin, a convicted criminal badger baiter, now working as a ‘fence mender and gate opener’ (Terrier-man) for the newly combined hunts...

For YAS/BBMH to chose to work and be so publicly associated with an individual already charged with illegally hunting a wild mammal with dogs (badger baiting) tells you all that you need to know about their ethics and morals."

The group added photos of Tiffin, sitting on a quad bike. They wrote:

"Note the spades clearly visible under the sheet on the front of the quad (critical for mending fences...) and the missing illegal front number plate. Other than his mug-shot, the last image is of a gloating Tiffin taken by Sabs during a previous meet of YAS on 12 March 2019. Note the blood on his hands. We firmly believe that a fox was illegally killed during this meet."

Tiffin was terrierman for the York and Ainsty Hunt in 2020, when it made national news headlines after its whipper-in Mark Poskitt - covered in blood - stuffed the body of a fox cub, who had just been killed, into a bin bag.

Since then, York Anti-Hunt League has seen the ex-terrierman at various meets with the hunt.

The photo below, with a smirking Tiffin's hand covered in blood, was taken as the hunt left for the day and shortly before monitors discovered that a badger sett had been dug into.

Mark Tiffin with blood on his hands. Screenshot via York Anti-Hunt League/Facebook

Facebook posts

Tiffin's Facebook page, which is public at the time of publishing this article, has numerous photos uploaded of terriers with dirt on their faces, as well as of hunting hounds and quad bikes.

This summer, he advertised his terrier, whippet, lurcher and family dog shows - fundraising for the Badsworth, Bramham, York and South Hunt - to "show are [sic] support and help towards funds for the care of the fox hounds." He also uploaded a post of his "Digger winning champion terrier at Sinnington hunt show", and earlier this year, posted a photo of himself with three other topless men, saying, "We do some daft thing digging comp In pissing down rain at a terrier show."

Perhaps the most telling photo - which now seems to have been deleted but was screengrabbed by a hunt monitor - is of Tiffin down a very large and freshly dug hole, holding a terrier.

Mark Tiffin poses with a terrier down a freshly dug hole. Screengrab via Facebook

Why was Rose down the hole in the first place?

Protect the Wild spoke to an independent monitor, who has documented the disgusting activities of the Badsworth, Bramham, York and South Hunt. The monitor told us:

"I’ve been monitoring the hunt for many years. They hired Tiffin because of his lust for blood and muscle to try scare the monitors.

I have been in the field with him everywhere he was. When he wasn’t in full view a fox would pop up. I remember on a New Year’s Day meet, he was there as the terrier lad and we were tipped off that he had a fox to drop [for hounds to chase]. Thankfully we kept him in sight that day."

The monitor continued:

"I’m just thankful that Rose the dog was found, as many he’s put down holes haven't been.

The question needs to be asked: Why did Tiffin have this little dog out? Were they chasing foxes? He needs to be exposed - most of the men that were digging with him are linked to badger sett digging in some way.

Hopefully people will see him and his sett-digging friends for what they are. They should pay back every penny to the people that donated, who could donate to a real rescue."

What can we do?

Protect the Wild is as relieved as the monitor that Rose was rescued and is now safe and well. But we do wonder whether Tiffin - with his track record of sending dogs down holes - was exploiting the dog, forcing her to hunt wild animals. If not, why on earth was she trapped 26ft into a cliff face?

The image below is a screenshot from social media and shows Tiffin's son with Rose or another very similar terrier - note the scars typical of dogs used for baiting and digging out.

Dogs are the forgotten victims of hunting and baiting, often suffering horrific injuries, and men like Tiffin should be banned from having them in their care.

Tiffin has portrayed himself as a saviour in the rescue of Rose - described across the media as a Jack Russell, but in fact a Red Fell Terrier, a breed described as "typically small, usually 10- 15 lbs/6.5 kg, and with a narrow chest, so as to fit into the tunnels of the animals they hunt" - but this week Tiffin paraded 'Rose the Jack Russell' at a bare-knuckling fight in Leeds, much to the idiotic delight of local media like the Wakefield Express. He is shamelessly using the rescue of a (presumably traumatised) animal to promote himself.

We and others feel that the situation regarding Rose and GoFundMe involves serious misrepresentation. Questions must now be asked about how Rose got stuck in the first place and how the money raised will be spent. Tiffin hasn't needed to be transparent to the public about exactly how the money was spent. Rose's GoFundMe page is, at the time of publishing, still live. At the moment it appears that a violent badger baiter and terrierman is laughing all the way to the bank...

• GoFundMe specifically says that "Donors can request a refund of donations made online via the GoFundMe platform (“Platform”) to a fundraiser. GoFundMe will determine, in its sole and absolute discretion, if misuse or abuse has occurred." If you have donated and have any concerns that you gave money under false pretences, you can contact GoFundMe here.

This article could not have been written without the animal protectors who sourced and passed on the information. A huge thanks to everyone involved - you know who you are, and we applaud your courage and dedication.