Weak response from Forestry England on QSH's blatant hunting

Weasel words mirror reponse of Quantock Hills from last week.

On Tuesday 22 April Quantock Staghounds (QSH) killed a young stag in the Quantock Hills. The Hunting Act 2004 clearly prohibits the hunting of mammals with dogs, although stag hunters misuse several loopholes in the law to evade this. The chase crossed both National Trust and Forestry England land.

Sabs' reports pointed out that the QSH committed several blatant breaches of the Hunting Act, as they had no permission from the landowners to carry out the hunt, and they used more than two dogs to tire out and flush the stag. Despite the ample evidence, both the National Trust and Forestry England have failed to take a strong stance against the killing, instead passing the buck to the local police.

Wildlife Guardian released this shocking video documenting the lead-up to the killing:

Wildlife Guardian condemned QSH via their Facebook account:

"The hunt stooped to the lowest level possible by targeting a young male pricket [a male deer in its second year with straight, unbranched horns] from a hind herd and getting him separated and for three plus hours chasing him down to exhaustion and shooting him once he was incapable of taking another step.

The purpose was entirely to satisfy a blood lust of a small group of people."

North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs (NDHS), who were present on the scene along with Mendip Hunt Sabs (MHS), Holford Against Hunting, Wildlife Guardian, Wildlife Crime Action and Three Counties Hunt Saboteurs, laid the blame squarely at the feet of the landowners and the local police, who had not prevented the killing:

"On the ‘shame list’ is Forestry England who ‘talk the talk’ but do little. They were notified of the ongoing incident. Other guilty organisations are the National Trust whose policy is well, ‘nothing’ and Avon & Somerset Police who are content to allow illegal hunting to continue."

NDHS said that they had informed Forestry England (FE) staff that QSH had chased the stag into FE land at Rams Combe, but that the FE "did little" to stop what was going on.

The group also made clear that QSH used National Trust (NT) land for the chase. NDHS wrote:

"On Great Hill, owned by the National Trust, the groups were split leaving a single very young stag running towards Little Quantock Farm before crossing the Macmillan Way drove to the fields near West Hill"

Chased to exhaustion

The terrified pricket was chased by the QSH and its dogs onto another area of FE land. He then tried to escape across open fields, but was overcome by exhaustion. According to NDHS:

"suddenly he was spotted labouring across an open field above the common. A terribly sad and lonely sight for anyone with any ounce of compassion, but a source of much excitement and glee from the hunt, who immediately brought the hounds over as he fled to Muchcare wood near Lydeard Hill.

Hounds were lifted to the area along with the field following. From this moment there would be little chance of escape."

Sabs attempted to intervene, but a shot was soon heard close to the village of Kenley. The stag was killed, had his throat cut and was taken to the kennels to be carved up for meat.

Several groups - including the Hunt Saboteurs Association - urged supporters to contact Forestry England (FE) to take action about hunting on their land. Their demands gathered local media coverage.

As May begins, stag hunting season has, thankfully, drawn to a close. We want to say a sincere thank you to the sabs and monitors who have been tirelessly protecting stags from hunts in the Southwest of England and across the UK. But, as MHS points out, the Summer months entail a lot of behind-the-scenes work for wildlife defenders.

Inadequate responses from Forestry England and the National Trust

Both FE and NT have changed their policy in recent years and do not issue licences for trail hunting on their lands. These policy changes came after years of hard campaigning by wildlife defenders, including Protect the Wild.

Protect the Wild is calling on supporters to pressure FE to confirm that this suspension of licenses will be permanent.

When Protect the Wild contacted FE, they said they would have contacted the police if they had seen anything illegal. But effectively washed their hands of the killing, saying their staff hadn't witnessed it:

"Our staff were made aware of an incident near Ramscombe on 22nd April. A ranger attended and observed the Quantock Staghounds, together with vehicles and followers, on the highway and on Forestry England land. No illegal activity or kill was witnessed. The incident has been logged, and we will be notifying the police and contacting the hunt accordingly."

They might not have seen the stag being killed, but all the evidence of the killing had already been gathered by sabs and monitors and was readily available to them. Why not at least make a statement condemning the actions of QSH on 22 April? Or set out how they plan to stop the same thing from happening again?

FE stated:

"we are unable to physically prevent incursions, particularly where doing so could place our staff in unsafe situations."

But would asking the QSH to get off FE land really have placed staff at risk? Even if this statement is taken at face value, there are plenty of legal avenues available to the FE to prevent QSH from accessing the land in the future.

FE acknowledged the volume of correspondence they had received about the killing on 22 April, saying that they would not have capacity to engage in further dialogue beyond the above statement. This is a deeply disappointing statement from an organisation as large and well-resourced as Forestry England. They even have the gall to pass the buck again and suggest that those concerned should contact their local MP!

National Trust fails to condemn killing

An NT spokesperson responded similarly, reaffirming its policy on hunting but failing to make any clear statement about the killing of the stag - despite being presented with the evidence. The spokesperson said:

“Hunting deer and stags with packs of dogs has been illegal since 2004 and stag hunting groups do not have permission to operate on Trust land for any purposes. If anyone witnesses anything that they believe to be illegal, we advise them to contact the police directly, in addition to notifying our staff on the ground where possible. We will continue to provide all possible support to the police to ensure any incidents are appropriately investigated.”

NT has been strongly criticised for failing to prevent hunting on its land, despite having made clear its policy in 2021.

We need stronger action

Do landowners like these actually care about the wildlife on their land?

It would have been refreshing to see a strong condemnation of the actions of QSH on 22 April, but we need more than just words from big landowners like NT and FE. We need them to take action to prevent hunt groups from entering their lands, and to take decisive action when they do. Doing any less than this shows a shameful disregard for the wildlife crimes going on in the lands they manage.

Here are a few steps which NT and FE could take to prevent hunting on their lands:

• Speaking out strongly against each individual hunt that trespasses on its land;

• Sending each hunt a warning letter, complete with property maps and property boundaries;

• Monitoring and penalising tenants supporting and hosting hunts, evicting them if necessary;

• Reporting incidents to the police to ensure that charges are brought against hunt staff;

• Routinely deploying staff on hunting days to act as a visible deterrent, to gather evidence, and to compile a dossier which can be used for civil proceedings or legal actions;

• Taking out injunctions against hunts that trespass on their land.

You can click the link HERE to send a letter directly to Forestry England calling on them enforce their ban on licences for trail hunting AND make the ban permanent. You can also read about the Quantock Hills National Landscape Team's equally weak response to our concerns about stag hunting here.

• You can donate to North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs here, Mendip Hunt Sabs here and Wildlife Guardian here.

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