9.7 million of us live in rural UK. 2024 was another shitty year for the millions of wildlife lovers who live in ‘hunting country’. But there’s good news about hunting. The signs say it is on its last legs, dying fast now Labour is in charge with its manifesto promise to end the slaughter. So what’s occurring? Here’s our take on the state of hunt crime as we head into 2025.
Good news about hunting: it’s dying
Hunts can’t find the staff: We’ve seen stories about hunts struggling to find new Masters and Kennelmen. Sometimes existing hunt staff have been sacked because of their terrible behaviour. On one occasion, a Hunt Master stropped off with her tail between her legs because she was fed up with her hunt being sabotaged and shamed on social media. The only replacement they could find is so ancient it’s a miracle he can still climb on board his long-suffering horse.
Riders are abandoning ship: In our area we’ve noticed a sharp drop in riders as the last few marginally-sane hunters realise the game’s finally up after twenty years of getting away with it. At the same time, thanks to the Protect The Wild Blood Business Directory and dramatically increased social media coverage, hunt pubs and other traditional meet locations are changing tack, banning hunt meets and events on the premises. As it turns out, consumers hate hunting with a passion – and our money talks.
Hunts are getting more chaotic: Our local hunters have become more chaotic, violent and antisocial. We’re seeing hunts blocking roads more frequently, maybe because the roads are the only route to connect the few remaining parcels of hunt-friendly land they’re allowed on. The organisations supporting hunt crime have also become more chaotic. Masters of contradicting themselves, fibbing, moaning and threatening, the Countryside Alliance is not waving. It is drowning, as is the equally rabid British Hound Sports Association. Below you can see hunt followers attempting to remove the mask from a young hunt saboteur – basically an ordinary member of the public who was there to uphold the law.
More social media coverage, more sab groups, more hunt monitors, more spies, more petitions: New groups of monitors and saboteurs have formed through 2024 thanks to increasing publicity, as more people find out about what’s happening in the countryside. As a nation of animal lovers we are not happy, as revealed by the boom in ‘locals against’ anti-hunt Facebook pages.
As people abandon hate-filled right wing extremist X, BlueSky Social is becoming the new home for those who are less interested in fighting the hate, more focused on driving actual change. We’ve also noticed an increase in the number of petitions demanding police and government action against hunting, which will be adding to the pressure they’re already under. And more ordinary people than ever are reporting hunting to the sabs and the police.
Newspapers and TV are getting on board: Old-school, right wing print media are creaking into action, finally starting to mention and sometimes even condemn hunting’s 20 year crimewave. Their circulation might be tiny compared to social media but as the mouthpiece of an Establishment that allows wildlife crime to continue, the fact that they even mention hunt crime is a plus, sending shockwaves through the hunting community.
Police forces are starting to wake up: A change in government means messaging from the top down no longer enables or supports hunt crime. We’re seeing more arrests and prosecutions even though the law is fatally flawed, wrecked by Prince Charles who, in 2004, threatened to leave the UK if hunting was banned. You can check out the growing Action Against Foxhunting list of hunt prosecutions here. We wrote and asked Prince William, who owns vast tracts of hunting land on Dartmoor, but he won’t ban hunting on his property. He says he and Kate “can’t become personally involved”. It’s about time the royals did a u-turn on wildlife crime. Maybe it’ll happen in 2025.
Sabs are getting the respect they deserve from people in high places: It’s good to see senior police officer Matt Longman, who has been tasked with hunt crime, talking about sabs as volunteers who are helping to catch criminals.
Hunting is being openly classified as organised crime: Wiltshire police are mired in an ongoing scandal over a special deal they did with a local hunt. There could be more similar scandals to come. Now, at last, police officers are beginning to catch on to the truth and say it like it is: hunts are gangs of organised criminals, as we’ve been saying for years.
Boxing Day hunt meets are a clown show, sometimes an almost no-show: This year we’ve seen more reports of low attendance and fierce protests at Boxing Day hunt meets. In our town barely anyone turned up, signalling an end to the barbaric meet they depend on for support and funding. Hopefully, on Boxing Day 2025, there will be fewer meets than ever.
People-power is denting hunt ‘traditions’: When we first set up a Facebook page in response to shocking safety fails at our local Boxing Day hunt meet, the hunt didn’t bother asking permission to close the roads, hold their event, or parade around town. A year later they were forced to apply for official road closure for the first time in their existence. A couple of years after that they fled on Boxing Day, abandoning their traditional meet at the last minute to hook up on a grotty farm instead. This Boxing Day there were barely any hunt supporters or riders in attendance and the hunt was followed by teams of police, including a drone unit, leaving them unable to commit their usual crimes and antisocial behaviour. Local gossip says this might have been their final Boxing Day meet in our town.
More landowners are saying ‘no’ to hunting: Landowners, farmers, campsites, animal shelters, nature reserves, the National Trust, Forestry England, the Crown Estates, everyone knows ‘trail hunting’ is a fiction dreamed up to get away with wildlife crime. Some hunts will be struggling to find land they’re allowed to hunt on. Every landowner who says ‘no’ adds another nail to their coffin.
Hound deaths on roads are opening people’s eyes to hunt cruelty: We’ve seen a dramatic boom in reports about lost and abandoned hunting hounds being found by members of the public, or injured and killed on the roads and railways. Hounds have been reported killing people’s pets, worrying livestock and last New Year’s Day, killing a pet alpaca. This isn’t their fault, it’s because they’re starved before going out hunting. We regularly get reports about children being traumatised by witnessing wildlife being chased by hounds and hunters. All this adds to a shocking litany of crime and antisocial behaviour that’s spreading far and wide, outraging ordinary people who had no idea hunting was still going on.
Child grooming is becoming a big issue: The Pony Club UK feeds children directly into hunts, something that’s finally being recognised as unacceptable. Hunting parents encourage their children to hunt, too. But children shouldn’t be groomed for a life of crime, and the more people become aware of this type of grooming the more likely it is to be stopped. At the other end of the scale the horrid old gammons who love hunting so much are dying off bit by bit. We will not mourn their passing.
So will we see an end to hunting in 2025? Social media, wearable tech, public awareness, a change in government, changing policing, it all adds up – and there’s more chance of it happening now than ever before. We wish all wildlife lovers an excellent 2025 full of hope and love. Together we can stop these vile organised criminal gangs once and for all.
