Pre-spraying
Pre-spraying is an excellent sabotage tactic which avoids confrontation with the hunt. A few hours before the hunt meets, saboteurs will pre-meet the hunting area, spraying citronella to cover the scent of foxes, mink and hares. The hunt can appear an hour or so later and find nothing to kill!
Shooting
Shooting will not be affected by the Governments Hunting Act.
Shooters and gamekeepers kill far more wildlife than all fox hunts, mink hunts, hare hunts, stag hunts and hare coursers put together. Whether at large grouse shoots or a pheasant shoot comprising of just a few sick individuals, saboteurs will obstruct the guns to stop them shooting. A common reaction is for the days “sport” to be abandoned.
Fox Hunting
At a fox hunt saboteurs can be very effective. We will watch the hunt throughout the day and call the hounds away from foxes with horn and voice calls. Using citronella we can cover the scent of foxes so that the hounds won’t pick up on it. A loud hand clap or cracking a whip can stop the hounds if they do pick up a fox’s scent.
As a fox is running for its life it may find an earth and run inside for shelter. If this happens then the hunt will usually call the terrier men. They will block up the holes of the earth and dig it out then send it back to the hounds, shoot it or kill it with a spade.
At a dig-out, saboteurs will try to get between the terrier men and the earth. We can also film them as some are not happy to continue a dig-out while they are being filmed. Or if the earth is actually a badgers set then the police can be called to stop them as badgers are a protected species.
To train young hounds to hunt they are taken cub hunting. Cub hunting takes place between July and September.
At a cub hunt saboteurs will use horn and voice calls to confuse the young hounds and save the lives of countless fox cubs.
Hare hunting
Hunt saboteurs save hares in much the same way as they save foxes. Using horn and voice calls and covering the scent of hares stops the hounds during the chase.
Unlike fox hunts, hare hunts take place on foot.
Mink hunting
Mink are hunted in the summer. Saboteurs actively save them each year.
To stop the hounds from killing mink, saboteurs will distract them with horn and voice calls and cover the minks scent with citronella.