The season when hunts tear up fox cubs has already begun

Shropshire's United Pack caught 'cubbing' August 3rd

Cubbing season has begun again. Cubbing is where hunts train their hounds to chase and kill using inexperienced young fox cubs as practice, giving the dogs a taste for blood. Hunt saboteurs and monitors are already on the ground, trying to stop the horrific act. We spoke to Shropshire Wildlife Monitors, who caught the United Pack red-handed over the weekend.

Cubbing usually takes place between August and October, although the monitors received a tip-off from locals that the United Pack's hounds were already terrorising wildlife the weekend prior, at the end of July.

Because of this tip-off, monitors were joined by Shropshire Hunt Saboteurs in the early hours of the morning of Saturday 3 August. Shropshire Wildlife Monitors told Protect the Wild:

"At approx 4am, we made our way over to the area. The hound van left the kennels at approx 4.20am, so we made our way towards the stables where they collect the horses. On entering the village of Lydham, we luckily came across the hound van and the horse lorry, at approx 4.35am and proceeded to follow them to the meet. They quickly left the meet, with monitors and sabs keeping eyes on them most of the time."

The monitors continued:

"The hunt consisted of huntsman Jason Wood, the whipper-in Morby, the chief terrierman Ben Marsden and a kennel boy illegally riding a one-person quad, and approximately five riders. There were about three vehicles acting as hunt support."

Also pictured on the quad bike was a man called Ian Jones - an avid hunt supporter who is infamous for being convicted after giving a Nazi salute to Cheshire Borderland Monitors. The quad bike was being driven on public roads without number plates, which is also illegal (see our Protectors of the Wild page on Quad Bikes and the Law).

The monitors and sabs provided Protect the Wild with video footage of the events of the morning. In this short video, provided by Shropshire Hunt Saboteurs, the hounds are in cry. One sab says of the huntsman, "he's hunting them on," then shouts over, "call your hounds off! You're on film."

The monitors told Protect the Wild:

"The United Pack are a hill pack, with plenty of large hills and gorse to cast the hounds, which Jason Wood did frequently. Many sheep were upset running from the hunt, and his final area to hunt saw them scaring cows with young calves, and honestly the hounds seemed frightened of the cows charging at them.

The hunt packed up by 7.30am."

Indeed, footage, taken by the monitors, shows the hunt trespassing on the farmland full of cows. The monitors told us that the farmer did not give permission to the hunt to use his land.

Monitors are calling for tip-offs

More hunts across the country will no doubt begin cubbing season next weekend. While they're training their young hounds, hunting staff will be monitoring which of the dogs are suitable for full hunting. Hounds who don’t make the grade might be killed.

Shropshire Wildlife Monitors explained how the public can help to save fox cubs, even if you can't actively get out onto the fields yourself. The monitors said:

"The United Pack from Shropshire just can’t wait to get out killing fox cubs. They’ve already started this season and plan to go out five days a week. We desperately need tip-off info from the public to help in our fight against these evil monsters.

They usually go out at the crack of dawn until about 9am or in the late afternoon or evening. Their kennels are based at Bishops Castle."

Of course, hunt sabs and monitors all over the country welcome tip-offs. Protect the Wild has provided a brief summary on how to spot cubbing here.

And if you are fit and able to get out on the ground, why don't you contact your local monitors to see if you can join them, either out on the fields, or as drivers or navigators?

• The United Pack featured in a post after stealing a drone belonging to Shropshire Wildlife Monitors and Hunt Master Chris Morris's business Morris & Co is listed on our new bloodbusiness.info database

• If you have any tip-offs for Shropshire Wildlife Monitors, contact them on 07909 170211.

• You can donate to the monitors here.

Featured image by Shropshire Wildlife Monitors

---

Our founder Rob is set to run the Richmond marathon in mid September to raise funds for Protect the Wild! And now is a great time to donate to the fundraiser because a very generous donor has said they will match all donations up to £20,000! So every donation has double the impact! £5 ends up being £10 and £10 ends up being £20! If you’d like to show Rob your support and help raise vital funds to support the work that we do you can donate here.