Bristol Hunt Saboteurs

The badger cull is back on and for the last couple of nights Bristol sabs have been back out in the Somerset cull zone. We are armed with new thermal imaging equipment and a greater determinaton than ever to stop this needless slaughter.

If you can help us out in the fields please get in touch – bristolhuntsabs@hotmail.co.uk. If you would prefer to join the Somerset Badger Patrol or do your own thing in the cull zone, contact Somerset Against the Badger Cull. The more of us, the better.

Our Gofundme account is still open and all donations will be used to ensure that we continue to have a presence in the killing fields and have all the gear we need to be as effective as possible at saving badgers.

If you can’t physically help, please donate to keep us out there.

http://www.gofundme.com/dxgjzc

We were out this morning chasing the cub hunters around the countryside. We found The Berkeley Hunt leaving their kennels around 5.45am and upon spotting sabs, they immediately split into two groups and headed away from their usual haunts in a bid to lose us. Their supporters and terrier-boys gave us the usual toss, and one idiot kindly waved a crowbar at us. Bless.

Of course, after a bit of searching, we could hear them across the quiet morning air and we acted immediately. Catching up with the hunt they had a wood surrounded (this is typical behaviour of a hunt during cub hunting where they trap foxes in woods making them unable to escape and therefore get ripped to pieces).
Sabs used horn calls to pull the hounds away which alerted a bunch of riders to come over and try and push us out the field. Their ignorance was outstanding and they even commented on the recent attack by the Blackford and Sparkvale hunt towards a sab by saying ‘she got what she deserved’. The riders soon realised we weren’t going nowhere so the hunt took off again with us in pursuit.

We watched every move they made and soon enough they were heading for home, clearly deciding to ditch their preferred hunting locations as we had them covered.

We aim to be out constantly throughout the badger cull and of course sabotaging foxhunts. Please consider donating to our fuel/equipment fund. Thank you.

http://www.gofundme.com/dxgjzc

Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) Press Release-

A hunt saboteur has been rushed to hospital after being ridden down by a member of the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Fox Hunt during an evening cub hunting meet at the hunt kennels in Charlton Horethorne, somerset.

Two hunt saboteurs were standing on a public road watching the hunt in a field when the attacker rode at them from behind, throwing the female saboteur up in the air with the force of the blow before she was dragged along the ground. An ambulance was immediately called but was stopped from reaching the casualty by hunt vehicles who deliberately blocked the road. An air ambulance also attended the scene. The female has been taken to hospital with a possible collapsed lung and back injury. The hunt then callously carried on hunting before returning to their kennels for a BBQ.

The attack was filmed by a vehicle mounted camera and this footage will be handed over to the police so that the cowardly attacker can be identified and arrested.

Cub hunting or “cubbing” takes place before the official hunting season when the hunts train young hounds to kill by setting them on naïve fox cubs who are easy quarry. Any of the young hounds who don’t show an inclination to hunt are killed by the hunts. Cubbing has been illegal since 2005 but is till common practice by most hunts.

Lee Moon, spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association, stated: “The Blackmore and Sparkford Vale have a long history of violence towards hunt saboteurs but this is a particularly cowardly attack even by their standards. Cubbing is a vital time of the hunting season for the hunts as they are training young hounds to kill. Disruption by hunt saboteurs can affect their whole season which is why they often react with violence at this time of year.”

Hunt sab treated by paramedics after being ridden down by fox hunter at the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt, Somerset. Piccture from Dorset Hunt Sabs

The fox hunting season has begun, so it was a very early start for us this morning to sab a cubbing meet of the Berkeley Hunt.

Cub hunting, or ‘Autumn Hunting’ as the hunting community now prefer to call it, is the season that precedes the start of the full fox hunting season at the beginning of November. It is every bit as barbaric as it sounds, as it serves as training to the new entry of young hounds who learn how to kill and work as a pack. Unlike the main hunting season where a hunt wants to flush a fox out of a wood or ‘covert’ for a long chase, coverts containing vixens and fox cubs are surrounded by members of the hunt and supporters to prevent them from escaping being ripped apart by the pack.

The hounds were in and out of cry throughout the day and a number of foxes were seen making their get away. One was fleeing a covert the hunt were holding up, running past us. Sabs were straight into action spraying over the scent of the fox with citronella. Immediately afterwards the hunt’s terrier-boys and supporters got a bit pushy in an attempt to hold us up as the huntsman and hounds moved on.

We were soon back on them and hounds were in cry again. A combination of horn and voice calls were used by sabs to call a lot of the hounds out of the wood they were hunting in, they were then gathered back up by the hunt who again moved on. We then watched as the huntsman drew a few blanks before the hunt made their way back to their kennels. Job done and all before 9am! It was a good start to the season for us, we helped a couple of foxes away, kept the hunt on the move and were treated to a mass hot air balloon ascent in the beautiful morning sky.

We aim to be out in the field directly saving animals lives every weekend from now until the end of the hunting season. If you would like to join us please get in touch. Alternatively, donations are massively appreciated at this time. www.network23.org/bristolhuntsabs

Bristol Hunt Sabs made the trip up the M5 today to join up with a number of other sab groups. Our destination was Whitehouse Farm in Aston Cantlow, Warwickshire, which was hosting a joint meet of the Three Counties and Teme Valley mink hunts.

Upon our arrival a number of irate hunt supporters made threats of violence but when they realised sabs weren’t going anywhere they changed their tune and were straight on the phone to the police, who duly arrived in force. Warwickshire Police deployed a van, half a dozen cars, a dog unit and even a helicopter to watch us watch the hunt!

Police helicopter hovers over hunt sabs in Warwickshire today

After a couple of hours unable to set off and start hunting from their meet due to our pressence, the hunt decided to make a move elsewhere. The ‘impartial’ police then blocked roads, slowed sab vehicles down and partook in some very dodgy driving practices to ensure that this potentially illegal hunt could escape and carry on with their day without sab attention. With their original meet scuppered we can hope that this signalled an end to their days hunting, but if they did go on to hunt and kill wildlife then the blame lies squarely with Warwickshire’s finest.
The foxhunting season and the badger cull loom ever closer but we still plan to squeeze in a few more mink sabs. Watch this space...

The hunts will be out in a matter of weeks ‘cubbing’ (the act of training new hounds to get a taste of blood by chasing fox cubs). We will be out in force to stop them. Get in touch if you want to join us.

The Hunt Saboteurs Association have printed up new leafltes detailing the horrors of this illegal act. Go order some from www.huntsabs.org.uk

Yesterday, sabs from Bristol along with groups from Somerst, Dorset and Berkshire were out in North Devon tackling the Culmstock and Cheriton mink hunts who were out together in an attempt to get their blood lust fix. The scum were very unhappy to have sab company and despite a lot of pushing and shoving from them towards sabs they decided hunting wouldn’t be a good idea and packed up for the day. Sorted!

Bristol Hunt Sabs will have a stall at this weekend’s Bristol Punx Picnic.

The annual punk festival will take place over three nights, in two city centre venues, with dozens of acts. You can find full info here – https://www.facebook.com/BristolPunxPicnic

We will have a stall on the Friday and Saturday, where you will be able to find out more about hunt sabbing, purchase the popular new t-shirts bearing our logo as well as snazzy sabbing posters, patches, prints, stickers and more.

Come and support our cause and have a pogo!