South Shropshire terrierman fined for blocking a badger sett

David Conde, a terrierman for the South Shropshire Hunt (SSH), has been ordered to pay an £845 fine by Telford Magistrates Court

Badgers have long faced threats and persecution in the UK, and setts are protected under the 1992 Protection of Badgers Act.

The Hunt Saboteur’s Association (HSA) reported that Conde, a 61-year-old from Condover, was captured in covert footage in January 2024 blocking up the active badger sett with a spade. Terriermen are tasked by hunts to block up fox earths and badger setts, to ensure that foxes have nowhere to hide from the hunt.

Conde pleaded guilty in December 2024, while fellow terriermen William Hand and Toby Holley pleaded not guilty. Holley and Hand’s case will begin on 12 June.

Why would trail-hunters need an artificial fox earth?

The HSA reports that footage from another hidden camera, taken the same day as Conde can be seen blocking the badger sett, shows huntmaster Daniel Cherriman close to an artificial fox earth. Cherriman already has a conviction for hunting fox, in contravention of the Hunting Act 2004. The HSA writes:

“After Conde blocks the sett, the hounds are put in the woodland and huntsman Daniel Cherriman – who has previously been convicted of illegal fox hunting – is seen on another hidden camera at the artificial fox earth. He looks down at the pipe entrances – clearly indicating that he knew it was there and what it was for. He then uses his horn to call the hounds over the artificial earth. “

A Hunt Saboteurs Association spokesperson pointed out that the SSH were clearly still involved in illegal hunting:

“It’s obvious hunting with hounds is still happening. You don’t need to flush foxes, or block badger setts at a so-called trail hunt. We urgently need the Labour government to act on their manifesto commitment to ban trail hunting, end terrierwork and close the Hunting Act’s many loopholes.”

Photo by Lewis Darby on Unsplash

A “common occurrence”

Protect the Wild spoke to local group Shropshire Wildlife Monitors, who said that they were extremely happy that the terriermen’s case had been brought to court – despite the lack or resources available for this sort of case. They said that the illegal blocking up of badger setts is a common practice for the hunts in the area. They told us:

“‘we applaud the hard work from the people who managed to achieve this conviction, more people like Conde are finally being brought to justice for interfering with a protected species. There are multiple hunts in Shropshire which go out several times during the week, finding blocked badger setts in the area when hunts have been, is a very common occurrence.”

Not the first time

Cherriman, 37, was fined £607 by Telford Crown Court in November 2022 under the Hunting Act, and ordered to pay £135 in court costs and a £61 victim surcharge. The court found he had failed to call his dogs away while illegally fox hunting on National Trust land.

Cherriman was charged after he was filmed in 2021, trespassing on National Trust land near Church Stretton on the Long Mynd, and illegally chasing a fox.

The Trust has since banned trail-hunting on its land, after pressure from wildlife protection groups, but has been less than enthusiastic in enforcing the measure.

No care for their hounds

In 2019 SSH hit the news headlines after one of their hounds was killed by a train, after the pack strayed onto the railway. The passenger train was forced to apply the emergency brakes to avoid hitting the rest of the hounds.

The Hunt’s statement at the time didn’t explain how they could have allowed the 15-20 dogs to stray onto the railway.

Violent and dangerous

The conviction of Cherriman in 2022 has not, unfortunately, put the South Shropshire Hunt off hunting foxes – or generally acting like a gang of thugs. In November 2023 a terrierman for the SSH was filmed in a hit-and-run incident on a local worker, who was trying to stop the hunt trespassing on his land:

Protect the Wild’s Eliza Egret wrote at the time, describing the incident:

“As the man monitored the hunt from a verge, the driver of the quad bike deliberately plowed into him, and the man fell to the ground. Moments before that, the driver was captured on footage saying he’d “f*cking have that c*nt”.

The worker was taken to hospital with a broken leg.

Still hunting foxes

SSH have also continued to act with zero regard for wildlife protection legislation. In February 2023, Cherriman was out again hunting foxes. This time the killing of a fox was captured on film by Wildlife Guardian. WARNING, some viewers may find the footage upsetting:

In 2024, a freedom of information request by Action Against Foxhunting Midlands revealed that complaints about the SSH’s behaviour had prompted West Mercia police to issue them with a Community Protection Warning.

In the 2024/5 hunting season Shropshire Wildlife Monitors have caught the hunt chasing two different foxes. On the day that both incidents occurred, Cherriman was still the huntmaster and Conde and Holley were acting as terriermen. Conde and Holley were seen to quickly don masks as soon as they saw they were being filmed. The monitors reported this “blatant hunting” to the police.

We need a real ban

Its clear that the current wildlife protection legislation isn’t up to the task of preventing the likes of SSH from hunting foxes and interfering with badger setts.

We need to push the government to keep its promises and ban trail hunting. You can sign our call to protect badgers, ban terrierwork and close up the loopholes that allow practices like trail hunting here.

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At Protect the Wild we are campaigning against badger persecution and the ongoing badger cull.

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