Hunt saboteurs & the creation of safer communities
image of fox hunters on horses, with a pink background.
Dr Tracey Davanna, lecturer in criminology , London South Bank University
When recently discussing the policing of foxhunting and Hunting Act 2004 with some undergraduate students, their initial thoughts were that it was interesting but held no relevance to their own lives. The sight of red and green-coated huntsmen on horses riding with packs of hounds across the English and Welsh countryside was far removed from their own experiences, both with the criminal legal sector (CLS) as well as culturally and geographically. Based in a post-92 university, many of our students are representative of the local area including structurally disadvantaged by class and race. However, questions from the students later demonstrated their understanding of the intersection of bias, under-criminalisation and under-policing through foxhunting that could draw on their own experiences. It also provided them with a powerful example of abolitionism using the example of hunt saboteurs (animal rights’ activists) beyond the urban spaces many of them inhabit. This 2-part post firstly examines the relationship between hunt saboteurs (sabs), foxhunts and policing, that demonstrates how the Hunting Act 2004 is a powerful example of under-policing wealthy privileged communities. The second part will demonstrate why hunt saboteurs are an example of abolitionism in action today. This includes how they raise awareness of harms and crimes in the countryside and contribute to making rural communities safer. It is important to say, these are empirically informed posts, drawn from hunt saboteurs’ experiences, expertise and my research with them.
Part One: Foxhunting, privilege & policing
If one has never seen a foxhunt, it can be difficult to understand its relevance to our lives. Briefly, there are approximately 200 foxhunts in England and Wales, 170 registered with the sport’s governing body, Masters of Foxhounds Association (MFHA). In its contemporary form, foxhunting as a field-sport goes back to the 17th century with the founding of the Quorn Hunt in Leicestershire. The main hunting season is between October and April with anything from ten to one hundred riders led by the hunt master, but cubbing takes place earlier in the year, when hunts pursue and kill fox cubs. Since the Hunting Act 2004, many aspects of hunting with dogs are illegal but numerous loopholes enable it to continue, unsurprising as the then PM Tony Blair later bragged about creating these. Blair was heavily influenced by the powerful pro-hunt lobby that sought to oppose any ban, stretching from wealthy landowners in the countryside into parliament. This included the Countryside Alliance’s (the main rural pro-hunt lobbying group) own president who sat in the House of Lords and the then Prince Charles who beseeched Blair to prevent a ban, conjuring the ‘romantism’ in the relationship between man (sic) and dog.
Despite the 2004 act, foxhunting has continued as if the ban did not exist. Hunt sabs regularly upload videos to their social media accounts of illegal hunting, a conservative estimate putting it at 526 examples just in the 2022/23 season. The main ‘smokescreen’ to illegal hunting is trail-hunting, a genuine opportunity to hunt without a kill (using animal scent rather than live animals) but often deployed by hunts as a legal defence if required. This was revealed in a secretly recorded webinar in 2020 by the hunting industry which was a master class in perverting the course of justice. Despite the presence of over 100 hunt masters, ex-police officers engaged by the hunt industry, directors of hunting bodies and even members of the House of Lords, all sharing knowledge about pretending to ‘trail-hunt’ for legal purposes, only one person ever stood trial, his guilty verdict thrown out on appeal.
Illegal hunting, however, is just one strand to the package of harms that accompanies foxhunting, with overt and organised violence by hunts and their supporters regularly experienced by sabs and monitors. Recently this has included: hunts weaponizing horses and quad bikes (vehicles commonly used by hunt staff) leading to serious injury against hunt sabs; hunt sab vehicles regularly targeted, on one occasion a hunt supporter even using a dead fox to inflict damage; one sab’s home was even targeted when hunt supporters attempted to break in. The death of two sabs in the 1990s reinforces the danger of monitoring foxhunts in Britain.
The binary nature of the criminal legal system
Comparing legislation and policing between communities reiterates the privileges evident in how foxhunts are under-policed and under-criminalised, dog legislation and road safety two such examples.
Foxhounds are regularly witnessed at hunts out of control and ignoring calls from the hunt master, leading to horrific examples of wild animals and pets being ripped apart in front of the public, including children. On one occasion, hounds ran through an animal sanctuary that led to multiple deaths and injuries to cats. Road safety is regularly jeopardised when hunts criss-cross major junctions resulting in hounds themselves killed. Hounds running through farms distressing new-born lambs is also evidenced. Identified as ‘working dogs’ despite the Hunting Act 2004 effectively ending any such role, recent dog legislation introduced by the then Conservative government has again focused only on breeds commonly associated with socio-economically weaker communities, hastily banning the XL bully in 2023 following several attacks on humans. Dog-related legislation under-criminalises breeds/working dogs associated with privileged practices whilst over-criminalising those associated with poorer communities.
A similar critical lens can be applied to road safety, notably between e-scooters and quad bikes. Hunt supporters commonly use quad bikes to traverse public and private land to follow hunts, many of which are single use bikes. However, they are regularly overladen with passengers or farm machinery, and commonly weaponised against hunt sabs and monitors when driven directly at them. Licence plates are also muddied to prevent identification and they are regularly identified as untaxed. Just before Christmas 2023, a young woman tragically lost her life when the quad bike she was a passenger on overturned. Despite this, the local hunt still uses these vehicles and other hunts have been recorded ferrying young children around at meets, including the children of politicians. Compare this with e-scooters, police forces sending out social media messages last Christmas, reminding people about being responsible e-scooter riders in public places, aware that many may receive them as gifts. This has been accompanied by negative news coverage into their use around towns and cities, any similar focus lacking towards hunt vehicles despite them also using public roads.
Under- and over-criminalisation
None of this is accidental nor will it come as a surprise to those well versed in the role of the criminal legal system in protecting the rich and powerful over the weak and vulnerable. However, it is a good example demonstrating how certain privileges continue. Foxhunting is also a fascinating example as its history accompanied the development of the CLS over the centuries, constructed to maintain the privilege of one community whilst seeking to criminalise others, originally positioned to classism. Even preceding this, the example of land rights and access to the countryside demonstrates rural space and its animals divided up for the use of the wealthy, whilst gradually removed from other communities. Land access and types of hunting continue to epitomise these differences. Consider the example of hare hunting, also made illegal under the Hunting Act 2004 but still evident in organised beagle packs, and again characterised by under-policing and under-criminalisation. Anti-hare coursing, however, a practice associated with the working classes and often featuring trespass, appeared in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, and has already led to several convictions.
Overall, foxhunting is an excellent example demonstrating the intersection of the law, policing and privilege made evident today by the activism of hunt saboteurs. Unabashed by this, one foxhunting lobbying group, aware the Labour Government made a commitment to tightening the hunting ban when in opposition, recently stated their intention of gaining ‘ethnic minority protection’ under equality law, given legal threats posed to the sport’s continuation.
The second part of the post will examine the role of hunt saboteurs as an example of abolitionism in action today. This is even more important given the absence of the state and police in prioritising wildlife crimes including illegal hunting.