Welsh Border Wildlife Protectors - their first season

And thanks to the Protect the Wild Equipment Fund we all helped make it a successful one!

Back in November 2024, Protect the Wild was proud to say 'Croeso' to the Welsh Border Wildlife Protectors (WBWP). A newly-formed group made up of very experienced individuals, their focus would be on the notorious Wynnstay Hunt - a hunt that features with almost monotonous regularity on posts on our Substack and in numerous listings on our bloodbusiness.info website.

WBWP told us that they had been working in the field with Cheshire Borderland Monitors, a group we know well that also focuses on the Wynnstay, They gave WBWP a strong endorsement, respected the way they conducted themselves, and on the back of that we were very pleased to help the WBWP with costs towards a drone. As you can read below, they have put the drone to good use!

Like any growing group, though, the Welsh Border Wildlife Protectors need more equipment - equipment vital not only to record what the Hunt is getting up to in the field, but kit like radios and bodycams they need to keep themselves safe. Would we be prepared to dip into our Equipment Fund to help again? Yes, yes we would…

We have now helped the WBWP with some of the kit they need. In the meantime they have sent us a summary of what this first season has brought.

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“The Welsh Border Wildlife Protectors have just finished our first very successful season as a newly formed group.

This season we have saved many foxes, exposed the Wynnstay Hunt and its masters for employing “security” to prevent ourselves and monitors from filming their illegal hunting.

We have footage of foxes relentlessly pursued by hounds across open ground and unfortunately filmed some kills too.

Due to the pressure we and other groups have applied this season, Huntsman Henry Bailey has been under investigation for assault, illegal hunting and threatening behaviour, with multiple cases still ongoing.

Eye in the Sky - watching the Wynnstay

We were very lucky to receive funding from Protect The Wild and their followers towards a drone at the start of our campaign. In its first use, our operator managed to capture footage of the Wynnstay Hunt chasing a fox (to watch please go to YouTube here).

While stills don’t do the original video full justice, what is shown is a fox breaking cover and crossing open land. Off camera the fox runs along a hedgerow, cuts through it and over a track. The fox then ran across country, through a large farm and then into a wooded valley.

Back on the drone footage you can see riders sat in front of the hounds who are working through a small copse. The second still shows the hounds leaving the copse in the exact spot the fox did and beginning to chase.

Luckily by the time the hounds got to the farm they were “outfoxed” and had lost the scent.

But they did go back on themselves on the heel line of the fox and followed it all the way back to where they began.

The original footage is absolutely clear: this is not a trail hunt.

• There is no ‘trail’. The hunt put hounds into woodlands where foxes would be, waiting for the fox to break and for hounds to follow the line.

• If they were indeed following a pre laid ‘trail’ then why did a landowner turn up furious that the hunt had been on her land scaring her livestock?

• Why was there a terrierman on the road on a quad looking where the fox had gone?

• The same terrierman later approached the drone operator and tried to take the drone out the air whilst it was landing, picking up rocks in an attempt to knock it out of the sky.

If this was a legitimate trail hunt you would think the hunt would be happy and willing to provide us with the map of the trails and be happy for us to witness the hounds work.

This is why we are more adamant than ever, to work alongside other groups to get the Wynnstay prosecuted.

Protect The Wild have kindly agreed to help us with further funding towards the equipment and we have also set up a GoFundMe.

Funds will be going towards more hand held cameras with a long range zoom and due to the difficult terrain we need better radios - and potentially a base unit for our vehicle.

We need to stock up on citronella and bottles and we also go through a huge amount of fuel, so the rest of the funds will hopefully keep us going throughout the season, which starts in August.

Thank you for the support so far.

If you haven’t already then give us a follow on Facebook and help us grow @welshborderwildlifeprotectors.”

• The WBWP have set up a GoFundMe to raise the rest of the money they need. If you’d like to help them out please use the button below - every pound will help!

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The Wynnstay are killing wildlife and are breaking the law. There is no doubt about that. But as articles like this show the groups we - all of us - support ARE making a genuine difference out in the field where it is needed.

We are going to repeat something we have often said on posts like these: without our supporters there is no equipment fund and there is no kit to give out.

This is very much a joint effort between Protect the Wild and you. We are the conduit, we liaise with the groups, establish what they need, and work with them to get the kit out to them - but it’s YOU that helps us to fund everything.

We will never forget that which is why we regularly thank our own supporters when we write posts like this. And we mean every word when we do. Funding for groups like Wesh Border Wildlife Protectors comes from supporters who have entrusted us to spend with the due diligence it deserves.

Sabbing and monitoring - protecting wildlife from the people who want to harm animals - can be dangerous and exhausting. Hunts are losing support and being watched like never before though. So, thank you to the groups out on the front line - and thank you to every single one of you who are supporting them.