Hunt sabotage

Hunt sabotage is the direct action that animal rights activists and animal liberation activists undertake to interfere with hunting activity. ^[1]

Description

Hunt sabotage, as carried out by anti-hunting campaigners, or hunt saboteurs, involves the use of a variety of tactics to prevent the killing of animals. Since the opposition to killing is generally on moral or ethical grounds, hunt sabotage takes place against both lawful and unlawful hunting activity. Tactics vary depending on the type of hunt that is being targeted. ^[2]

• Fox hunting, Stag hunting or Beagling (hare hunting) often involves large packs of hounds who hunt by scent. Saboteurs use various strong smelling products, like citronella oil or aniseed, to mask the scent of the quarry animal. Other tactics include mimicking the calls of the hunt staff to pull the hounds away from the hunted animal. ^[2]

• Sabotage of culls, for example badger culling or wolf culling, ^[3] involves destruction of animal traps and confrontation with hunters. ^[4]
• Sabotage of animal shooting involves destruction of shooting towers and hides, ^[5] as well as disruption of shooting events by mass protest. ^[6]
• Sabotage of killing done for pest control involves destruction of snares and traps. ^{[7] [8]}

• Hunt sabotage also involves infiltration by saboteurs into hunting groups. For example, the work of saboteur Mike Huskisson documenting various British hunts ^{[9] [10] [11]} revealed a number of practices which were previously unknown to the general public and helped to turn opinion against hunting. Infiltration by saboteurs into meetings of the Masters of Foxhounds Association revealed tactics used by the associations members to evade anti-hunting laws in the UK, ^[12] leading to the banning of various hunts by large land owners such as Natural Resources Wales and the National trust.

• Both direct action saboteurs and non-interventionists like the League Against Cruel Sports use video, photography and witness statements to support prosecution of hunters who commit offenses or to raise awareness of issues they consider show hunting as cruel, ineffective or in a bad light.

Conflicts between hunt saboteurs and hunt supporters

The actions of saboteurs often place them in direct confrontation with hunters and hunt supporters.

• A member of the South Coast Hunt Saboteurs assaulted in Herstmonceux. ^[13]
• Pytchley Hunt rider jailed for attack on hunt saboteur. ^[14]
• Devon & Somerset Staghounds members attack saboteurs and smash vehicle. ^[15]
• Weston and Banwell terrierman arrested for shovel attack on hunt saboteur. ^[16]
• Hunt saboteurs assaulted by Cottesmore Hunt stewards. ^[17]
• Blackmore and Sparkford Vale hunt supporters assault and intimidate saboteurs. ^[18]
• West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs harassed and assaulted by police. ^[19]
• Hunt saboteur beaten with shovel by badger baiters. ^[20]

By country

In the United Kingdom the direct-action saboteurs are often members of the Hunt Saboteurs Association. Other groups such as the League Against Cruel Sports also carry out anti-hunting activities, generally through non-direct means, campaigning, publicity etc.

Every year in Spain, organisations such as Equanimal or the platform Matar por matar, non ^[21] are involved in the sabotage of the Copa Nacional de Caza del Zorro (Spanish: "National Fox Hunt Cup") following the hunters making noise with megaphones to scare foxes and preventing them from being killed. ^{[22] [23]}

In Ireland the Hunt Saboteurs Ireland, ^[24] founded in 2019, aims to sabotage fox hunting and other forms of wildlife persecution such as lamping.

In Sweden, the Hunt Saboteurs Sweden take direct action against hunting in Sweden and Norway, especially wolf hunting. ^[25]

See also

• Hunt Saboteurs Association
• League Against Cruel Sports

References

1. "What is hunt sabotage?". huntsabsireland.com.
2. Goldman, E (22 August 2022). The Traditional Art of Hunt Sabotage: A Tactics Manual. Independently published. ISBN   979-8472050968.
3. "Sweden: Help Hunt Sabs Fight Against Wolf Cull". earthfirstjournal.news. 7 October 2022.
4. "A Night with the Secretive Animal Rights Group Sabotaging England's Badger Cull". vice.com. 22 October 2022.
5. "Hunting towers burned". North American Animal Liberation. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
6. "hunt-saboteurs-target-yorkshire-dales-grouse-shoots-on-glorious-12th". richmondshiretoday.co.uk. 13 August 2023.
7. "HSA Tactics Book - Legal". Hunt Saboteurs Association. Archived from the original on 24 November 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
8. "Traps & Snares: Secret Sabotage". Hunt Saboteurs Association. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
9. Huskisson, Mike (1 December 1983). Outfoxed. Michael Huskisson Associates. ISBN   978-0950928401.
10. Huskisson, Mike (28 February 2017). Outfoxed Again: Winning for Animals. Animal Welfare Information Service. ISBN   978-0993382215.
11. "What an Animal Investigator Learned From 50 Years of Undercover Work". sentientmedia.org. 6 September 2022.
12. "MASS CRIMINALITY IN HUNTING COMMUNITY REVEALED THROUGH LEAKED WEBINARS". huntsabs.org. 27 November 2020.
13. "Herstmonceux: Hunt saboteur complains of assault and car damage". BBC. 4 January 2024.
14. "Man jailed for Sibbertoft assault on hunt saboteur". BBC. 10 November 2024.
15. "Two hunt saboteurs have been subjected to a terrifying ambush orchestrated by thugs from the Devon & Somerset Staghounds". huntsabs.org.uk. 23 July 2023.
16. "Hunter arrested after attacking saboteur with a shovel". protectthewild.org.uk. 23 November 2023.
17. "INVESTIGATION AFTER FEMALE HUNT SABS ASSAULTED". harboroughfm.co.uk. 12 January 2024.
18. "Hunt saboteurs face 'violent rampage as homes targeted and car windows smashed'". independent.co.uk. 7 October 2023.
19. "West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs persistently targeted, harassed and assaulted by police". netpol.org. 3 February 2023.
20. "Hunt saboteur 'left to die' after being brutally beaten while confronting badger baiters". mirror.co.uk. 30 April 2021.
21. "Equanimal se suma a la espantada del zorro el día de la copa nacional" [Equanimal joins the scare of the fox on the day of the national cup]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 8 February 2007. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
22. Lombardero, Xavier (28 January 2008). "Incidentes entre cazadores de zorros y ecologistas acaban con un detenido" [Incidents between fox hunters and environmentalists end with one detainee]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 April 2018.
23. "«Es una matanza, no una competición deportiva», afirman los ecologistas" ["It is a slaughter, not a sporting competition," say environmentalists]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 24 January 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
24. "About".
25. "FIGHT FOR THE WILDLIFE". firefund.net. 23 May 2023.

Further reading

Books

• Braunstein, Mark Mathew (November–December 1995). "Confessions of a Hunt Saboteur: A Real Sab Story". Country Connections. ISSN   1082-0558 . Retrieved 12 October 2017. The hunters took aim (upon deer, not upon us) and were just about to release the bowstrings. BOOM! The blasts from our foghorns twice sent deer fleeing to safety.
• Pedler, Ian (2008). Save our stags : the long struggle against Britain's most controversial blood sport. Bristol: Black Daps. ISBN   9780955478604.
• Huskisson, Mike (1 December 1983). Outfoxed. Michael Huskisson Associates. ISBN   978-0950928401.
• Huskisson, Mike (28 February 2017). Outfoxed Again: Winning for Animals. Animal Welfare Information Service. ISBN   978-0993382215.