Quorn hunt masters banned: Jumblebee, take note
Posted 4th January 2021
While the League continues to wait for online auction site Jumblebee to respond to our polite letters asking it to stop running fundraisers for hunts, it seems the Quorn Hunt are helping us with our campaign.
Two masters of the Leicestershire-based hunt have been suspended after organising a hunt to mark a 70th birthday while England was still in lockdown and such activity banned.
Their hounds were also filmed zeroing in on a fox hole or badger sett – foxes often flee underground when being hunted. Police are investigating.
The Quorn is one of the hunts that raises money via Jumblebee, latterly raising more than £3,000 via the site.
Jumblebee has yet to respond to the League’s correspondence, despite the number of hunts that use its services being reported to the League for activity related to suspected illegal hunting, and despite other online fundraising sites such as GalaBid, Auction Direct and Give Fundraising pledging never to support hunts on their platforms.
Nick Weston, the League’s head of campaigns, said: “I’m not sure how much evidence Jumblebee needs to make the decision to ban hunts from its site. It has taken down past auctions but has been conducting others via private link. It has so far not engaged with us.
“Burying the past will not help when it’s the future that counts – banning hunts from using its platform, which is so often used to benefit proper community groups and good causes. The League would be happy to commend it if it announces it’s going to take this action.”
This latest Quorn incident is set against the backdrop of a recent expose in which senior members of the hunt lobby are caught on camera apparently admitting that ‘trail’ hunting is a “smokescreen” for the chasing and killing of foxes – something the League has been saying for more than a decade.
Nick added: “Businesses now need to disassociate themselves from fox hunts and animal cruelty – a decision that would be popular with their customers.
“The British pubic made many sacrifices during lockdown and they will be appalled that this hunt is willing to breach lockdown restrictions to pursue the barbaric ‘sport’ of fox hunting.”