Brutal stag hunting and the need to strengthen the Hunting Act

A blog by Mike Nicholas, senior communications officer at the League Against Cruel Sports

I have been following the activities of die-hard stag hunts which are still brutally chasing red deer with hounds for miles across swathes of Devon and Somerset countryside despite the hunting ban, before shooting the poor exhausted animal.

Three stag hunts still do this for ‘entertainment’ by exploiting exemptions in the Hunting Act, claiming they are conducting ‘research and observation’ or ‘rescuing a wild mammal’.

In practice, only one piece of research has ever been published in 20 years, but it was entirely implausible. And it’s often the fittest animal, not a sick or injured deer that they choose to chase for their own perverse pleasure.

When I visited Exmoor this autumn, I was appalled to see spectators driving around after the hunt or watching from a temporary car park in a field high above the valley where the hunt was taking place. It’s essentially a sick spectator sport.

It was a mature stag that the hunt was going after when I was last there, with pairs of hounds being used in relay to chase the deer and armed hunt staff and supporters following along on horse or on quad bikes.

This grimly depressing sight would shock most people who care deeply about animal welfare but there was no compassion on show by the hunt as they did everything they could to prevent the stag from escaping.

There is hope however as we have been told by the government that they plan to hold a consultation on hunting – and it’s vital that the government take the opportunity to remove all the exemptions in the Hunting Act, as well as banning trail hunting.

There are also volunteers who have been tirelessly monitoring the activities of the hunts, bravely filming hunts and putting their bodies on the line by getting up close to get remarkable footage of the cruelty.

I met Kevin and Alex when I visited Exmoor, two brave individuals from the North Dorset Hunt Sabotuers.

Alex filmed blood drenched members of the Quantock Staghounds trying to remove the corpse of a stag they had shot in woodland.

She also used a drone to capture footage of members of the Devon and Somerset Staghoundscarving up the body of a dead stag to hand out body parts as trophies.

I spoke to Kevin and he described some of the harrowing sights he has witnessed: “We’ve seen with our own eyes that the hunting and suffering of the deer is the same as before the ban, when no-one talked of doing research and observation.

“We’ve seen how a strong stag deteriorates as the chase progresses and he’s corralled from pillar to post, nowhere to hide as hundreds out for blood radio over his every move.

“We’ve seen the devastating sight of a stag at bay, now barely able to move, head lowered, swollen tongue hanging out, eyes wild and bulging and blood coming from his nose as capillaries burst with the extreme exertion. We’ve heard the whoops of delight as he is shot, and seen the blood that coats everything and everyone as they bleed him then and there ready for the traditional carve-up. They say they’re testing for TB, then hack him apart in a field and hand out trophies – his antlers, his feet, his teeth, pieces of liver, his heart and his entrails for the dogs.

“We’ve seen it all, we’ve recorded it all, we’ve reported it to the police, yet the weak law makes prosecution seem impossible. Stag hunting is as bad as the running of the bulls in Pamploma. The UK should be ashamed this cruelty still continues.”

The scale of this hunting is shocking too with hundreds of deer estimated to be shot every year after being cruelly chased with dogs. These can be mature stags, but the hunts also have a hind hunting season when the mothers and their calves are targeted too.

By March the hunts will have turned their attention to young stags.

There have only been two successful prosecutions of stag hunts, and these go back to 2006 and 2010.

So, what should happen now for this to change? I sought the views of our League Against Cruel Sports chief executive Emma Slawinski. She said: “This footage obtained by these two brave individuals will horrify the vast majority of the public and highlights the savage cruelty of stag hunting – in which red deer are chased for miles before the poor exhausted animal is shot and carved up for trophies.

“Hunting with dogs was banned 20 years ago but the stag hunts are using absurd exemptions in the law which allow them to ‘rescue a wild mammal’ or undertake ‘research and observation’ – while really taking part in a barbaric chase for their own pleasure.

“The time for change is now and this brutal blood sport needs to end. The government’s hunting consultation to ban trail hunting early in the New Year should also look at removing these exemptions from the Hunting Act and see jail sentences introduced to act as a deterrent to those who would break the law.”

You can help end the brutal bloodsport of stag hunting. Pledge to take part in the Government’s hunting consultation.