Dorset Hunt Sabs

Purbeck & Bovington Beagles 
Saturday 10th November 2018

Meeting at : Square and Compass pub, Worth Matravers, apparently, but spending the day at a skeleton of a barn over a mile away !

So, at the time of writing this hit report, we are sat on a dry stone wall in a standoff with the Purbeck and Bovington Beagles Hunt. Not much has happened today, not much is happening now, so we thought it’s an ideal opportunity to do some admin so we can enjoy an extra glass of wine in a warm bath tonight. Despite listing the Square and Compass as their meet we found them hiding behind a hedge at a barn ‘skeleton’ along the footpath towards St Aldenhams Head. Remaining on that footpath and with our super zoom cameras we have been able to film and observe what they have been doing all day …. well since they started at 12.30 anyway. 
The huntsman took the hounds in a big loop around us but never more than 2 or 3 small fields away. The hounds picked up on a scent several times but we think the huntsman scared most of the hares away with his relentless and excessive use of his horn. At one point the huntsman lost the hounds and it took him almost half an hour to gather them, even the foot support commented that the hounds were all over the place today. After running amok in the quarry the hounds were brought out onto the footpath and then taken back to the vehicles.
By 2.45 with their six foot supporters dwindling fast, they broke out the birthday cake. Fred …. who is the huntsman – Tony Stickland in disguise – brought some over for us. We declined the cake but had a little chat about his trail laying. Tony took a while to remember what the scent was made of and after some ‘umming and erring’ he decided on aniseed. When asked how they laid the trail he said the trail layer was out on foot this morning. Thing is Tony, we weren’t born yesterday and had been out in these fields for a couple of hours previous to you and THERE WAS NO TRAIL LAYER. 
The P&B Beagles hare conservation officer, who doubles up as one of their joint master, was in attendance and spent most of the day sitting in her car. The other joint master, Jess Mouland, uses the very animals they are tying to kill as the subject of her business. It’s rather ironic that the Hare she depicts in the artwork she sells may soon become extinct as a result of her hobbies! 
After a few waves, posing for our camera and ramdom gesticulations they decided to go home just after 3.30 pm. They pulled out, nearly reversing into one another. It was rather like a comedy sketch. They decided to blow the horn as a sort of goodbye to us. 
We had three separate members of the public stop to speak to us today, praising us for our efforts. When one of them walked away Clare Marsh, the Joint Master and Hare Preservation Officer, started taking photos of him.
We find it hard to believe that the Square and Compass, who are listed as their meet, even know who or what they are. If you would like to politely send them a message and ask if they are aware, you can do so here on their Facebook page: Square and compass pub Please keep it polite. Pubs just need to realise that 84% of the British public do not agree with illegal hunting. Hopefully they will drop them like a sack of rotten spuds.
One thing for sure is the locals do not want hunting.

If you want to join us please send us a PM or an email to dorsethuntsabs@riseup.net

Saturday 3rd November 2018 
BSV Meeting at Nyland Farm

Nyland Farm is owned by Graham Hinks who supplies meat for The Dorset Meat Company.

We decided to pay the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt a visit today, unsurprisingly they are still full on hunting …. well they would have been had we not turned up. Their terrier boys and foot support have sunk to an all time low though and have taken to assaulting sabs from behind.

The hunt set off from the meet just after 11.30am and headed in the direction of the Nyland Withy bed, the hounds soon picked up and marked a fox to ground in a hedgerow. With sabs watching from each side the hounds were soon gathered up and continued in the direction of the withy bed. Now, we know that foxes are fed in this area and it is regularly checked and the meat left for them is removed. The police were called, and as we were at this time in Dorset, we were told that they would send a car out. Hounds picked up again in the southerly corner of the withy bed and the huntsman brought them along  and followed the river North with the hounds searching the bank as he went. Since they had marked to ground the foot team currently out were having to deal with Edward Doggrell who was using his horse as a weapon by attempting to block sabs from filming and blocking footpaths. Edward informs us that we are not allowed to stand still on a footpath and we must keep moving. He is just a younger version of his dad really with regard to speaking utter rubbish and using his horse as a weapon, that rotten apple really didn’t fall far from the tree. Undeterred, foot sabs pressed on keeping the hounds in sight and deploying the gizmo at one point.

The hounds were taken North towards Pelsham Farm and another foot team was deployed from Gigg Lane . There was a rather angry farmer at Pelsham Farm who was rather irate that sabs used the gizmo because the hounds had yet again picked up on a fox. Both foot teams then headed back to the vehicle and were taken down West in the direction of Moormill Bridge where some of the usual knuckle dragging support had gathered. With our second vehicle keeping an eye from Abbey Ford Bridge we were able to keep track of the hunt as they moved along Gigg Lane,  combing the hedgerows on the way.

We headed round to Common Lane where we bumped into Peter Brooks who was earlier this year found guilty of assault by beating following an attack on Sab. He now has a criminal record and he spent some time filming our vehicle. A terrier man came past and shouted “ Ahh look at my lovely puppies”, he had three terriers in little boxes on his quad, “you wanna stroke the little puppies … well you can’t so fuck off” …. it did make us laugh at how deranged he was and we wish we had it on film.  Not being close enough to the hounds we back-tracked and headed to Park Lane. We found them trampling all across the Gartell Light Railway which is currently closed and we believe a location they are not allowed to enter. After gaining some footage we continued along Park Lane. Thuggish foot support had gathered like a stagnant puddle at Broadmead Lane track, so a foot team were deployed in the direction of Bow Brook, where they soon came across riders and yet more hunt thugs. After the usual abuse Sabs continued along the footpath. We were threatened by one of the hunt thugs who screamed at us that loitering on a footpath was illegal and we had to keep moving – which was exactly what we were doing had they not stopped us to give us grief.

By the time sabs had all got back to the vehicle the huntsman had headed to Inwood desperate for a kill, sabs were soon on the scene and used the horn several times when the hounds went into cry. Before long Mark gathered the hounds at around 4.30pm. We know we saved 2 foxes today … maybe more 

So as the cull is coming to a close we are still out round the clock checking on setts and looking for rubbish. We are incredibly tired and worn out – despite what the dark side tell you all our sabs do actually work ! We haven’t had anywhere near the amount of help we would have liked or needed but it’s quality not quantity right ???
We are going from low to high to low to high …. finding HUGE setts that are now inactive, finding those god awful traps and calling the pixies in, finding setts that are thriving and revisiting murder sites repeatedly to find they have been neutralised for the remainder of the cull. Our badger work will continue all year through but we are having to turn our attention to the fox hunting season which is in full swing !!
If you can spare a few hours and wanna help sett survey areas please, please get in touch. The south zone is only in its 2nd year and twice the size of most other zones. The north zone is in its 4th year but we are still very much needed ! If you like walking and have a few hours to spare get in touch – there’s lots of work to do after the cull which will really help us next year.
If you been thinking about helping our foxes now is the time to get in touch !!
Together we can make a difference….

To keep us going you can buy us a coffee! Pixies need their beans!

http://ko-fi.com/B0B0AGWY

be part of that difference 🦊

Hit Report : Eton Beagles, Thursday 18th October 2018

Meet : Chesil Beach car park

After a tip off that the Eton Beagle pack were heading to West Dorset to murder our wildlife we decided to take a quick break from our days badger work and go and pay them a visit. The meet was at Chesil Beach car park which is just along the road from Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens, all this land and much of the surrounding area including chesil beach is owned by a keen bloodsports woman – Charlotte Townshend. Charlotte, who claims to be a committed wildlife conservationist ( see link below ) owns her own hunt, the Cattistock who we have witnessed many times on the line of a fox !

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/…/Charity-patron-driven-out-by-…

Hare murderers are rather elusive and hard to find so as we were patrolling round the Swannery side scouring the lovely countryside we bumped into Weymouth Animal Rights and before long hatched a plan to cover a wider area including the tropical gardens side. After passing the subtropical gardens and arriving at the Chesil Beach car park we immediately saw the pack in the field beside the road and the beagles were being taken up in the direction of Countess Coppice where they were drawing the hedgerows. We drove along the road south of them with the foot supporters moving out the way to let us through – they were not expecting us and even gave us a wave ! As the beagles went in to the field beside Countess Coppice we could hear the hounds speaking. A foot sab exited the vehicle having spotted a sty and hot footed it up the hill, the hounds went into cry so the sab used the gizmo to pull the hounds off the huntsman. For the next 5 – 10 minutes a game of beagle ping pong was had between our sab and the huntsman and the beagles went back and forth allowing the hare to escape. Whilst our sab was enjoying the game the huntsman wasn’t so much and was cracking his whip trying to control the pack but to no avail. So he headed down the hill onto the road and past our vehicle and the foot support who were now shouting at us and telling us that it we weren’t allowed to be on the road … they didn’t mind earlier !!

A female supporter appeared from chesil beach and started filming us and later claimed she had the whole days ( we say day it was more like 15 minutes max ) events on film and could prove they were on a trail, the only trail laid today was her trail of lies !

Now joined by another foot sab we escorted the huntsman and the hounds back to the end of the road where WAR were waiting for them and we all saw them back to their vehicle which was parked in Chesil Beach Car Park. The beagles that didn’t go into the trailer straight away were each grabbed by the scruff of their necks and thrown into the trailer which was awful to watch.

We remained in the car park to ensure they didn’t go back out on another killing spree. The master with his silly socks still on came over to take a few photos of us and it was ironic that he had a phone case with a hare on it ….. why have something on the cover of your phone that you will be partly responsible for making extinct ??

Along with the badgers we are fighting so hard to save especially during this cull, the hare is one of the UK’s most iconic species. Hare numbers are thought to have declined by 80% since the late 19th century.

If you would like to let Charlotte Townshend know your thoughts on her constantly allowing wildlife to be killed on her land illegally you can do that here ……

https://www.facebook.com/AbbotsburySubtropicalGardens/

If you want to join us in the field please send us a PM or email us at dorsethuntsabs@riseup.net

Any info on the hunts please let us know ASAP wether that be a whole meet card or a single meet.

https://www.gofundme.com/badger-cull-final-push

If you can spare us a few quid towards our fuel we will greatly appreciate it

So week four comes to an end and we have had a very busy week. Had to call pixies in today and have neutralised two areas that were targeting two beautiful, active setts.
During this week we have found setts that despite being targeted are still thriving, found a new sett which is now safely marked on map and spent some time huddled away watching the evil side going about their business. We have also been checking recent cage sites finding them still empty which is great news for the badgers !
We have found blocked holes which are now unblocked but shows this cull has given a green light for year round killing ! Sadly we found a badger dead in the field beside his sett, couldn’t see any wounds on him from bullets or cars !
We would really struggle to this without your donations and the HSA so huge thanks for keeping us in the field ! Got some great work planned for this week both day and night so if you’re reading this and off out to murder badgers expect us !
We will never, ever give up fighting for all our wildlife – night and day we are in fields, woods and hedgerows making a difference to some stripey families.
It’s not too late to join us and there’s a job for everyone so please get in touch either by email or PM – love and solidarity DHS.