Hunt sabs’ manifesto of ideology and spite

Sabs’ manifesto sparks outrage

The trail-hunting community has dismissed a new Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) manifesto, Witness the End of Hunting, calling it “a work of fiction dressed up as policy”. The 16-page document sets out six amendments the HSA wants adopted ahead of the government’s trail-hunting consultation in early 2025.

Proposals include making those in charge of hounds liable for any mammal’s death through a recklessness clause, reversing the burden of proof so huntsmen must demonstrate they took all reasonable steps to prevent harm, and a complete ban on trail-hunting.

The group also calls for the removal of all current exemptions and the expansion of the definition of hunting to include “searching for a scent or animal”. Maximum penalties would increase to five years’ imprisonment, with courts empowered to confiscate hunting articles and vehicles used in any offence. 

The HSA also wants hunting offences made recordable under police records regulations, and for hunting organisations to be recognised as corporate bodies with all staff, directors and participants charged with any offence.

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Trail-hunting bodies condemn proposals

Olly Hughes, managing director of the British Hound Sports Association, told Shooting Times:

“Not a single claim in the booklet is backed by credible data, policing evidence or independent research – just ideology and spite.

“It is written by people who see rural Britain not as a living landscape but as a problem to be managed and a culture to be dismantled. Their vision would destroy hound work, jobs, and the community life that binds the countryside together – and experience tells us that once one part of rural life is torn down, others soon follow.

“What this publication really exposes is not the end of hunting, but the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of those who campaign against it.”

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Political battle lines drawn

The proposals arrive as political debate intensifies over Labour’s manifesto commitment to ban trail-hunting. Defra minister Angela Eagle confirmed on 30 October that a consultation on “how to deliver a full ban” will launch in early 2025.

Ben Wallace, chair of the joint BHSA and Countryside Alliance hunting campaign, said:

“The Government has fired the starting gun. We must be ready to respond.”

Meanwhile, Reform UK pledged to reverse any ban. Speaking at a Hunting Kind conference on 29 October, Reform UK’s David Jones said:

“If this Labour Government bans trail-hunting, the next Reform Government will reverse that ban.”

Reform’s policy document states that protecting country sports “increase investment and help conservation of our environment” while boosting “rural jobs, communities and local economies”.