NEWS  


If you know of any snaring incidents involving pets or wildlife please let us know. The charity Scottish Badgers have noted an increase in snaring incidents involving badgers recently whilst the National Anti Snaring Campaign has recently hightlighted the number of pets injured or killed by snares.

 

'Illegal Threat' to Hen Harriers

Hen harriers are nearing extinction in England owing to illegal persecution in areas managed for rearing game birds, Natural England has said.

The conservation watchdog said the birds of prey were persecuted at communal winter roosts.

In a 12-month period it found six birds fitted with satellite transmitters disappeared from the north Pennines. [More - BBC News]

 

Tory voters back hunting ban

The majority of Conservative Party supporters back the ban on fox hunting and do not want the Hunting Act repealed, according to a new poll published today - views that are in direct opposition to leader David Cameron's pro-hunting stance.

The poll by Ipsos-MORI was conducted on behalf of the League Against Cruel Sports and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). It shows that twice as many Tory supporters favour the ban as want it repealed. Nearly six-in-ten (59%) say they want to retain the Hunting Act, with just three in ten (30%) wanting to repeal it.

For comments see the LACS Blog

 

Cumbrian Huntsman Smashed Opponents' Car Window

Michael NicholsonMichael Gerald Nicholson, Huntsman for Coniston Foxhounds, smashed the window of a Ford Escort with three anti-hunt campaigners inside. After the incident was reported to the police, Nicholson was arrested and interviewed. He admitted to being the man involved in the incident.

Nicholson, 40, pleaded guilty to criminal damage when he appeared before South Lakeland Magistrates’ Court.

 

Hunt Fanatic MP Puts Children Lives at Risk

Just days after a seven year girl tragically died after the quad bike she was driving hit a Range Rover, pro-hunt fanatic Nicholas Soames MP is filmed driving a quad bike on a road overloaded with children and adults supporting the notorious Crawley and Horsham hunt. [REALCA for full story]

 

26.12.07: Lancashire Game Bird Farm Exposed

Fayre Game BirdsThey are sold in luxury stores and appear on the menus of top restaurants, with customers assured that the birds are reared on specialist farms with the highest welfare standards.

But the gourmet packaging in which thousands of quail are shipped each week belies the cramped and grubby conditions in which many birds are kept, according to investigators working for the League Against Cruel Sports.

Footage recorded in the poultry farms of Britain's biggest quail and quail egg producer, Fayre Game, and seen by the Guardian, shows hundreds of birds packed in filthy, multi-level wire cages in dim lighting. Many have virtually no feathers left on their bodies. Dead birds lie among living and dying birds, with eggs falling on to trays below. Mesh netting alongside is encrusted with dirt and feathers. [Full Story including Video]

You can help the League Against Cruel Sports undercover work by making a donation today.

 

25.12.07: Hoghton Tower Campaign Update

Hoghton Tower Demo at Warburtons BoltonThe unrelenting wet summer made it fairly pointless holding demos at Hoghton Tower but plans are well underway for 2008. As Eddie Coupe says, "I won't spoil it by tellng you everything." but supporters will be notified shortly. Shoot observers are regularly checking the estate and will continue to do so until the end of the season.

 

25.12.07: Another Victim of 'Conservation'

A distressed Thornton couple were left horrified after their cat was trapped in an illegal "barbaric contraption" and had to have its leg amputated.

RSPCA inspector Bryony Jones says they are keen to speak to anyone with any information into the incident which happened on November 21, 2007. [Source: National Anti-Snaring Campaign]

 

1.12.07: Help Us Ban Snaring!

Snares are indiscriminate and inflict horrific suffering on thousands of animals every year, including protected species and pets. A new Early Day Motion (EDM) has been tabled in Parliament calling for an end to the manufacture, sale and use of all snares.

Please contact your MP today, asking him/her to put their name to EDM 314. For more information: EDM 314 at League Against Cruel Sports
 

1.11.07: Ruddy Duck Slaughter at Wigan 'Nature Reserve'

No Shooting NoticeMarksmen from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) brought terror to a nature reserve during a dawn shoot of ruddy ducks. The birds' fate was sealed by Wigan Council who agreed to the slaughter of Wigan's 80 ruddy ducks despite huge public opposition and months of campaigning to save them.

The slaugher of ducks took place on Pearson Flash which is owned by Wigan Council and the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside. Hypocritically there is a 'No Shooting' sign at Pearson Flash.

Campaigners have promised to continue to fight to save the remaining Wigan ruddy ducks.

 

22.10.07: BADGER TRUST CONDEMNS SLAUGHTER RECOMMENDATION

The Badger Trust today ridiculed Prof David King, Chief Scientific Adviser to the government for recommending badger culling to control bovine TB in cattle. The recommendation comes without any consideration of the cost involved which makes a mockery the entire policy.

Trevor Lawson of the Badger Trust commented: "Prof King's list of recommend -ations repeat virtually word for word the opinions of farming unions and the cull mad vets in Defra. This is a highly-politicised rush to judgment, which, ludicrously, contains no cost benefit analysis." [Badger Trust]

 

19.10.07: QUADTOCK STAGHOUNDS DUO LOSE APPEAL

Two men convicted of breaking the law prohibiting hunting have had their appeal against conviction rejected.

Richard Down and Adrian Pillivant, both members of the Quantock Staghounds, were convicted after being filmed by the League Against Cruel Sports.

The league filmed the pair chasing a deer for more than an hour, and the hunters were convicted. A judge at Taunton Crown Court rejected their appeal, saying the pair were hunting for sport.

 

19.10.07: GAMEKEEPER'S E-MAIL WE RECEIVED TODAY

why dont you jst think a minit and realise that if we didnt control foxes and vermin you wudnt have any of these litle garden birds and hedgeogs. so why dont u leve your impions to your self and stop turning people against us top class gamekkepers.

 

League Snare Video

Thank you to everyone who has sent in information on snares and traps. Although we cannot include the details here, please be assured all information was passed to investigators and followed up.

The League Against Cruel Sports has launched a new snare website - www.snaringsurvey.org.uk – to gather information on the extent of snaring in the UK.

The National Anti-Snaring Campaign, which we have long supported, has redesigned their already excellent website. We highly recommend you visit www.antisnaring.org.uk


7th June 2007: QUANTOCK STAGHUNTERS CONVICTED

The League Against Cruel Sport's second private prosecution for illegal hunting has been successful! Richard Down and Adrian Pillivant, officials from the Quantock Stag Hounds, have been found guilty of illegal hunting in Bristol this morning. Fines of £500 each plus cost of £1,000, and the Judge said: 'The Act is clear' - what they were doing was: 'sport and recreation', so obviously illegal. [More...]
 

Hunting Fanatics Plummet to New Depths

Hunting fanatics have mounted a dirty tricks campaign against the League Against Cruel Sports seeking to blacken the League’s name and shame the organisation.

The pro hunt Countryside Alliance has released video footage showing a stag being stabbed and another being shot. Both incidents took place on the League’s sanctuary land in Baronsdown, Somerset . The pro hunting group, which has accused the League of ‘promoting cruelty’ on its land, claim the footage proves the League is allowing animals to fall into a ‘horrific state’.

This is clearly not true and the League is in no doubt it has fallen victim to an attempted set up. It appears to be more than a coincidence that the two deer in question should turn up on League land, and lo and behold hunting fanatics are on hand to film both incidents. What is particularly tasteless about this latest incident is the lack of regard for the two deer which suffered and for the CA to seek propaganda from this is nothing short of despicable.

League Against Cruel Sports Chief Executive Douglas Batchelor says, “This really is plumbing the depths, even by hunting fanatics’ standards. I am appalled and sickened by this latest attempt to slate the League but anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that the League would never promote the cruelty of any animal. Those who go out to hunt, shoot and torture animals for pleasure are the ones in the wrong not the League”.

The League immediately referred the matter to the police believing it to be a set up.


Anger at Countryside Alliance Call to Sabotage Video Footage

Hunt leaders have urged their supporters to pretend they are being harassed or assaulted by anti-hunt monitors in a bid to sabotage video evidence. The West's director of the Countryside Alliance said the astonishing tip came from a police officer. More...
 
Huntsman Guilty of Assault
A Dulverton Farmers huntsman has been found guilty of assault after he rode his horse at hunt monitors. Anthony Allibone, 49, of The Kennels, East Anstey, had pleaded not guilty to assault on pensioner Yvonne Nichola, 66, who was monitoring the hunt near Brushford when the incident happened in March last year. More...

Exposed: Dumping of Gamebird Carcasses

A League Against Cruel Sports investigation has unearthed thousands of dead gamebirds and eggs in a six feet deep pit. More...
 
Drink Drive Fox-Hunter Escapes Ban
FOX hunting buffoon Otis Ferry got off a drink drive ban yesterday claiming he did not know his mates had plied him with treble vodkas. More...
Another Hunt Monitor Attacked
A 60-YEAR-OLD hunt monitor said she was violently knocked to the ground by a supporter as she tried to film a hunt taking place in Oxfordshire. More...

Oakley Hunt Kill StagBloody Nightmare - Oakley Hunt Kill AGAIN
A stag was torn to pieces by dogs in front of horrified householders. They were the same Oakley Hunt dogs that fatally savaged a llama near Luton last month. Oakley Hunt

HUNTING SUPPORTERS HAVE SIGHTS ON ME
Police are investigating claims that a Somerset woman has been targeted by pro-hunt supporters because she is keeping tabs on local hunts. page link

Countryside Alliance Accused Over Radio 4 Hunting Vote
Oh dear! But don't be too hard on them, they have to be seen to be doing something. More...

Hoghton Tower Police Waste Money
Animal Welfare campaigners have accused police of wasting taxpayers money after 18 officers were sent to watch two people observing a duck shoot.
Huntsman Guilty of Vicious Attack
A Devon huntsman has been found guilty of attacking an International Fund for Animal Welfare hunt monitor. Christopher Marles, 44, of Farringdon, repeatedly punched Kevin Hill who was filming the hunt's activities.
Vigil at the "Sanctuary of Death"
Local Greyhound Action supporters and other dog lovers held a vigil outside Leigh Animal Sanctuary after the Sunday Times revealed the mass-slaughter of greyhounds at the "Sanctuary".

NORTH WEST CAMPAIGN NEWS  

Warburtons Bakery Duck Shoot Demo
Supporters of the North West League Against Cruel Sports staged protests at Warburtons original grocery shop and bakery Headquarters in Bolton urging Warburtons Chairman to use his influence on his brother-in-law to save the Hoghton Tower ducks. Petition: Coming in May 2007
CHESHIRE
Cheshire Forest Hunt Violence
Hunt Accused of Endangering Lives
CUMBRIA
Cumbria Police Probe Illegal Hunting
LANCASHIRE
Myerscough College Bird Cannibalism
Waterloo Cup 2006
HUNT VIOLENCE
Baying For Blood
NWHSA Exposes CA Woman
TRIBUTES
Tony Banks - Simply The Best Friend
Tony Banks - The Maverick...

Another Hunt Myth Destroyed  

One of the bloodsporters’ key arguments — that foxes need to be destroyed — has been undermined, however, by the discovery of a letter sent by the Master of Foxhounds Association to masters and hunt chairmen. Complaining about “a shortage of foxes”, it berates landowners who did too little to encourage the animals to breed. The letter comes to light following the leak of documents from the Countryside Alliance. It is referred to in an e-mail from Simon Hart, chief executive of the alliance, to Lord Daresbury, the chairman of the foxhounds association. Hart warns the letter would be damaging if it were made public.
 

Recently Archived Stories

National Trust Cruelty: Torment of a Stag
Pregnant Woman in Fear of Hunt Dogs
Pregnant Woman in Fear of Hunt Dogs
Another Hunt Monitor Attacked
Hunt Steward Guilty of Threatening Behaviour
Pet Cats Torn Apart by Hunt Hounds
Hoghton Tower Bloodsport Demo
High Peak Hunt Savage and Kill Pet Cat (External link)
Huntsman guilty of breaking ban (External link)
Hunt Darling Boy Admits Drink Driving
Drink Driving Joint Master of the Ullswater Foxhounds
Cheshire Foxhounds: Two Hounds Killed

more archive stories...
 

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