Category: Hunting

Hunting

Anti-poaching campaign in Spain

Report of the “Committee against Bird Murder”

Like every autumn, when the first flocks of thrushes and finches arrive in Spain, bird poaching is once again widespread in the Valencia region.

In the last few days our team has already found several huge traditional trapping systems, so-called “parany”, which are equipped with electronic lures that are played at night and hundreds of thin liming rods.

They are made of old trees, some of which have been used for centuries. They have chimney-like branches that point upwards at the top of the plant.
Between these “fingers” horizontal glue rods are attached.

A tangle of ladders and bridges leads to the top of the facility, where the bird trappers can move over several floors.

On autumn nights, the loud lures lure entire flocks of migratory birds to their doom.

The attracted birds – mainly thrushes, robins, blackcaps and various finches – try to perch on the horizontal poles, get caught on the loose limes and then fall to the ground.
The poachers make their rounds about three times a night and collect the wriggling birds on the ground, or take them out of tensioned nets that they have installed under the trees.

The birds are then picked up with a pad, a kind of landing net, and killed in order to be eaten or traded on the black market as a traditional dish (pajaritos fritos).

During the day, poachers usually use large folding nets to catch finches (similar to Malta).
More than a dozen such sites are currently being investigated and we will report on them in due course.

So far, together with the SEPRONA Guardia Civil (police) and Agents Mediambientals (hunting supervision), we have closed three large Parany systems and confiscated around 2000 liming rods.

https://www.facebook.com/Komitee.CABS/

And I mean..I am always amazed at how it can be that people who may not even be able to read and write seem so inventive and resourceful when it comes to creating criminal works.

Apparently it is not only traditional dishes that are passed down from generation to generation, but also the methods by which defenseless beings are captured, tortured and eaten.

Who can actually decide in how many murders a hunter becomes a psychopath?

A psychopath can be defined as someone who deliberately inflicts harm without remorse.
And when you understand the cynicism with which the unscrupulous defend their crimes, and when you understand that such people dominate the society because they know how to intimidate people, then you come to the conclusion that we don’t just need educators, not just healers , not only people who can complain, but we also need warriors who are willing and ready to fight back.

The only way to treat the hunt is to smash it up.
It is not something what one can discuss.
It’s something that needs to be smashed.

My best regards to all, Venus

General News, Hunting

Spain: Open petition to save Galgos in Spain.

Open petition to save galgos in Spain

26 October 2021

AnimaNaturalis

A new petition has been launched in Spain to demand equal protection for all animals, including galgos.

The Spanish greyhound is a breed used both for hunting and for racing in different regions of Spain, especially in Andalusia, Castilla La Mancha and Castilla y León.

It is estimated that around 50,000 greyhounds and other hunting dogs are abandoned in Spain annually, with 5,000 abandonments in Seville alone.

There is a pressing need to address the problem through new animal protection legislation.

The petition ‘Save the Galgos’, launched by AnimaNaturalis, aims to:

Achieve a state animal welfare framework law that ensures maximum protection for these animals, and the modification of the animal protection laws of each Autonomous Community, as well as tougher penalties for neglect and abuse;

Make sure that “rehalas” (groups of between 16 to 40 hunting dogs) are no longer considered objects of “cultural interest”, eliminating all public subsidies intended to promote this practice;

Prosecute the mistreatment and abandonment of these animals so that no case goes unpunished before the law;

Ban the training of greyhounds tied to motor vehicles.

The petition is nearing its goal of achieving 10,000 signatures in support of the initiative. 

Read more and support the petition here.

Read more at source

Petition: Save the Galgos

Regards Mark

Hunting

Italy- Yes! let’s abolish hunting!

The “Yes, to Abolish Hunting” committee announced that the necessary 500,000 signatures have been collected.

Hobby hunting with all its misery is to be banned for good in Italy.

President Tony Curcio: “If all goes well, we will vote next spring”.

On Saturday, October 23, 2021, the 500,000 signatures required to start the process of validating the referendum question were reached.
This milestone was set on July 1, 2021 when environmental and animal rights activist organizations decided to set out to bring the issue back into the focus of public debate.

The ball now lies with the Court of Cassation, which has to check the validity of the applications and then appeals to the Constitutional Court to check whether they are constitutional.

“We are happy to have achieved a goal of this magnitude, it was difficult, but we made it”.
This is how Tony Curcio commented on the news to fattoquotidiano.it.

“At first we thought it would be easier to get to this point, but without proper media coverage we just had to work through word of mouth and things got complicated,” said the activist.
Hence his “thanks to the more than 1,500 volunteers who have contributed to this important result”.

As far as the next steps are concerned, Curcio’s path is clear: “Next Saturday we will submit the collected signatures to the Supreme Court, which will check the validity of the signatures.
Then it is the turn of the Consulta to comment on the text “.

In the event of a positive result, it is hoped that the vote can take place next spring.
We hope that it will be held at the same time as the other referendums under discussion, because a possible election day could indirectly bring us more support.

Camouflage hunting in Northern Italy

As the President of the Comitato Sì Aboliamo La Caccia emphasized, the referendum is not only about the ethical question of respect for the life of animals, but also about the other damage caused by hunting:
“Every year, many people are accidentally injured or killed by hunters, and pets are more likely to be affected.”

“And not only that”, says Curcio: “We also have to think about the pollution caused by lead from cartridges, which is deposited on the ground and in some cases gets into the groundwater and contaminates it.”

Anti-hunting demo – Florence 15.09.2018

This initiative is not the first in this direction.
Another attempt to abolish hunting was made in 1990 when the Radical Party, the Greens, the Communist Party, the Democrazia Proletaria and various ecological associations proposed two referendums aimed at restrict regulations on hunting and hobby hunters’ access to private property.
However, both failed due to a lack of support.

https://wildbeimwild.com/tierrechte/italien-referendum-zur-abschaffung-der-jagd-steht/54580/2021/10/26/

And I mean…An initiative of reason and morality.
Hunting means the worst crimes against defenseless animals and therefore goes against ethics, solidarity and common sense

In the 2018/19 hunting season there were 80 human victims in Italy.
The highest number of hunting accidents occurred in the Campania region in southwest Italy with 15 victims.
And although there are fewer and fewer hunters in Italy, they are still privileged by politics, especially the PD (partito democratico italiano) and the Lega.

Gun lobby- Italy

It’s an old story. The hunters have an influence, but also the arms industry with its lobbyists in parliament and in the regions.
Hunter and arms industry = A deadly mixture that damages nature, massacres animals and kills people.

We are hopeful that the sensitivity towards animals is much greater today than it was in the past.
Just look at the increase in vegetarians and vegans.
So now is the time ripe for the abolition of hunting.

My best regards to all, Venus

Environmental, Farm Animals, Fur and Fur Farming, General News, Hunting

Danish Government Makes Progress ?, Whilst UK (COP26) Government Cops Out On Imposing A Meat Tax and Promoting Plant Based Diets.

WAV Comment:

The Danish government are no friends of ours. 

Mass mink murderers; mass murderers of marine mammals in the Faroe islands; take a look:

Search Results for “denmark mink” – World Animals Voice

Search Results for “faroe islands” – World Animals Voice

Also, never having even been polite enough to respond to our letter to the Danish ambassador in London re the mass mink murders:

Denmark: Still No Response From The Danes Regarding Our Letter of 12/11/20. That’s Life – Or Death, If You Are Danish Mink ! – World Animals Voice

And as of today, 22/10/21 we still have never had any response back.

Now we hear (and welcome) the following; ? something for the British government to take note on – see below for more;

Regards Mark

Denmark announces 1 billion kroner for plant-based foods in historic climate agreement

The Danish government has announced over 1.25 billion kroner (€168 million) in funding to advance plant-based foods, as part of an unprecedented climate agreement for food and agriculture.

The Danish government has announced over 1.25 billion kroner (€168 million) in funding to advance plant-based foods, as part of an unprecedented climate agreement for food and agriculture. This funding is the largest investment in plant-based research and development by any EU country to date. 

The agreement, endorsed by all major parties in the Parliament, acknowledges that plant-based foods must be a “central element in the green transition” and commits the government to creating a national action plan for plant-based food with clear targets for production and sales.

Research by Oxford University shows that the world cannot meet its climate targets without shifting away from conventional animal agriculture. Moving to plant-based meat could reduce climate emissions by up to 90% compared with farming animals.

Under the new agreement, Denmark will create a Fund for Plant-based Food Products, providing 675 million Danish kroner (€90 million) over nine years to support product development and promotion. 

For farmers, a five-year Plant-based Eco-scheme will pay 580 million Danish kroner (€78 million) in bonuses to those who grow plant-based protein crops for human consumption. 

An existing EU-funded scheme, which provides funding for “environmental technology”, will be expanded to include processing equipment for plant-based foods.

The government will also devise a strategy for “green proteins” for animals and humans, backed by 260 million Danish kroner (€35 million) over five years. This funding is likely to support fermentation-made proteins and cultivated meat (grown from cells), as well as animal feed.

Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl, secretary general of the Vegetarian Society of Denmark, said: “It is groundbreaking that we will have a national action plan for plant-based foods with specific objectives, and that Denmark will invest more than 1 billion kroner in this area. This is one of the largest amounts that any country has invested in plant-based development. 

“This agricultural agreement will create thousands of jobs in the plant-based sector. If more funds are set aside later as part of the ongoing negotiations over research investment, we could see tens of thousands of new jobs.”

Acacia Smith, policy manager at the Good Food Institute Europe, said: “With this announcement, Denmark has recognised the huge potential of sustainable proteins to drive down agricultural emissions, and established itself as Europe’s biggest public investor in plant-based innovation. 

“As they prepare for COP26, governments around the world should be factoring plant-based and cultivated meat into their climate plans. If they are serious about meeting the Paris Agreement and building strong, green economies, they must follow Denmark’s lead and invest in bringing sustainable proteins to consumers’ plates.” 

Denmark announces 1 billion kroner for plant-based foods in historic climate agreement – GFI Europe

Meanwhile; in the UK; where COP26 is being held and so very promoted by the UK government; it seems like some information was released (spilled out) when it should not have been – read on::

Plan that suggested meat tax to help people go vegan swiftly deleted

A meat tax should be brought in to tackle climate change and help people move towards a vegan diet, experts have told the Government.

A model for increasing the price of ‘high-carbon foods’ was drawn up for ministers exploring ways to combat rising global temperatures.

The paper was seen by The Telegraph when it was published by mistake on Wednesday morning before it was removed soon after.

The plan was drawn up by the Business department’s Behavioural Insights Unit, known as the ‘nudge unit’.

The recommendations included giving shoppers vegan recipes when they buy new pots and pans and offering students cooking classes that avoid high-carbon foods.

Other solutions included increasing the ‘relative availability’ of plant-based food and providing children with ‘sustainable defaults’ in schools.

But the Government has insisted it has no plans to carry any of these suggestions out, saying the document is an ‘academic research paper, not government policy’.

‘We have no plans whatsoever to dictate consumer behaviour in this way,’ a spokesperson said.

Researchers went on to say that Brits’ hearts and minds could be better won over if the action was directed at farmers instead of consumers.

This ‘bold policy’ would impose a carbon tax on producers of red meat – beef, lamb and mutton.

But experts worry this would just welcome competition from producers which export into the UK that would not be subject to the same environmentally friendly or welfare laws as British farmers.

Indeed, Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘Most livestock farmers, most hill farmers are break-even at best.

‘You start putting taxes on them, and they are out of business…It will not only hit farming, it will devastate communities.’

The Government stressed a meat or dairy tax was not part of its Net Zero strategy – a goal for the UK to cut carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050 which was set out on Wednesday.

Boris Johnson plans to do this with other consumer-directed measures, including phasing out petrol and diesel cars and replacing boilers with low-carbon electric heat pumps.

The Treasury has warned this could cost the UK £37 billion a year but business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told Times Radio: ‘The cost of inaction actually could be greater than actually doing things’.

‘Metro’ – London.

Paper calling for meat tax to help people go vegan swiftly deleted | Metro News

I have one thing to say to both the UK, and the Danish murdering governments

Regards Mark

Hunting

Offender-friendly police on Gozo-Malta

Yesterday, October 19 one of our teams on Gozo observed a masked man who illegally set up a safety net for finches.
The police were called to the scene, but the suspect had enough time to collect six live decoys and flee as the police slowly approached the scene without even following the suspect.

https://fb.watch/8McMVmoGq4/

The trapper has now been identified as our team has also been able to determine the license plate of his vehicle. Four more bird trappers were caught yesterday alone based on reports from the committee to the police.

Just a few days ago, the Maltese government agreed to repeal the controversial law on “bird trapping for scientific purposes” after the European Court of Justice initiated infringement proceedings against Malta for 2020.

But today the Valletta government has made another complete U-turn and announced that it will in fact allow more than 3,000 registered trappers to proceed with the so-called “Finch-Trapping Research Project“ – under the promise of strict enforcement and enforcement (!!!)
Here’s an impression of that promise! does it look like strict surveillance?

https://www.facebook.com/Komitee.CABS/

And I mean…Clear case of cooperation between the criminal and the police: they let him escape.
What is still missing is the explanation of the police officers for this complicity: Yes, the guy looks hard like a “researcher”!

My best regards to all, Venus

Hunting

Mark Hankinson found guilty of telling others how to hunt illegally!

A prominent huntsman from Dorset has been ordered to pay £3,500 for giving advice to countrymen about how to covertly carry out illegal fox hunts.

The senior fox hunter Mark Hankinson has been found guilty of encouraging and assisting people to evade the ban on fox hunting.

Recordings of Mark Hankinson, a director of the Master of Foxhounds Association, speaking to around 100 senior hunters in two private webinars in August 2020 were leaked online.

We have reported about it:

https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2021/09/20/foxhounds-association-of-uk-sometimes-the-shot-goes-backwards/

The prosecution argued he was giving advice on how to avoid the law. Speaking to 103 hunt-masters on the call, he explained how “to create a smokescreen” to enable them “to portray to the people watching that you’re going about legitimate business”

The defence said he was advising what to do if saboteurs disrupt legal hunts (!!!)

https://fb.watch/8GjQgEdSoS/

At Westminster court Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram said “I am sure that the defendant through his words was giving advice on how to illegally hunt with dogs.”

“In my judgement he was clearly encouraging the mirage of trail laying to act as cover for illegal hunting,” he added.

Hankinson was fined £1,000 along with a contribution of £2,500 towards legal costs.

Continue reading “Mark Hankinson found guilty of telling others how to hunt illegally!” →

Environmental, General News, Hunting

USA: Wolf Pups ‘Adopted’ by Idaho High Schoolers Killed by Trigger Happy (? Obsessed ?) USDA Federal Agents.

Grey wolf pups
Grey Wolf Pups – Getty Images

Wolf pups ‘adopted’ by Idaho high schoolers killed by federal agents

Wolf pups ‘adopted’ by Idaho high schoolers killed by federal agents – BBC News

Conservation groups have expressed outrage after the US Department of Agriculture revealed it killed eight young wolves in an Idaho forest.

The pups were part of the Timberline pack, a group of wild wolves tracked and studied since 2003 by students at the local high school in Boise.

Federal officials have defended their actions as a “necessary” measure in reducing the predators’ population.

But local wildlife groups say wolves are “under attack” in the region.

Earlier this year, lobbied by the livestock ranching community, Republican-dominated legislatures in Idaho and Montana passed measures that made it easier to hunt and kill wolves.

Idaho’s version of the law allows hunters to kill an unlimited number of wolves each year, up from a 15-wolf annual limit, and triples the budget for population control efforts.

Under the terms of the legislation, wolves can be baited into snares, aerially gunned down via aircraft and even mowed over by hunters in ATVs or other motorised vehicles.

Environmental groups have warned the aggressive tactics will whittle down Idaho’s wolf population by 90%, from roughly 1,500 to 150, which is the minimum limit enshrined by a 2002 conservation law.

The Timberline wolf pack – unofficially “adopted” by students at Boise’s Timberline High School over the past 18 years – appears to have been among the targets. Their den, on public lands in Boise National Forest, was found empty this spring.

An official from the Agriculture Department confirmed federal agents had killed the animals in order to force the adult wolves to relocate.

Grey wolves were once nearly wiped out across the contiguous US.

The Endangered Species Act of 1974 created federal protections that saved the species from extinction and led to sustained population recovery efforts.

But the animals were delisted by the Trump administration last October and management of the species has since fallen to the states.

Supporter of the Idaho wolf-culling law have said wolves pose a threat to wildlife, particularly cows, sheep and other livestock.

Van Burtenshaw, the state senator and livestock dealer who introduced the bill, said reducing the wolf population would benefit “our cattlemen, our woolgrowers and outfitters”, as well as the big game hunters forced to compete with the wolves.

But environmental groups have slammed the culling tactics as inhumane. A spokeswoman for the Humane Society of the United States called it “a death warrant for hundreds of Idaho’s iconic and beloved wolves”.

The Biden administration is reportedly considering relisting grey wolves on the Endangered Species List.

Students at Timberline High have told US media they are penning a letter to President Biden over the pup deaths, a sign of the renewed urgency many Idahoans feel to see federal protections reinstated.

“Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are in an all-out frontal assault on wolves,” Dick Jordan, a former science teacher at the school, told the local Idaho Statesman.

“Something has to be done. It’s inhumane, it’s unethical and it’s not ecologically sound.”

Regards Mark

Please read some of the Comments associated with this – lots of sad;

Hunting

Germany: Hubertus Masse and the hypocrisy of the Church

Every year in autumn the so-called Hubertus masses take place everywhere in the churches.

Priests and pastors of both denominations bless hunters, the hunt and the “route” of the killed animals. – A bloody fraudulent label: Because St. Hubertus, in whose name these masses take place, recognized Christ in the animals and stopped hunting.

But not only St. Hubertus is abused for unholy conduct: the animal-hostile teaching of the churches is a betrayal of the animal-friendly teaching of Jesus.

According to legend, Hubertus was a passionate hunter. One day when he wanted to shoot a deer while hunting, it suddenly came up against him.
A cross shone between his antlers, and Christ said to him in the form of a stag:
“Hubertus, why are you chasing me?”
Hubertus got off his horse and knelt in front of the stag. From that moment on Hubertus stopped hunting and from then on led a simple life.

So much for the legend.

After his experience with the stag, Hubertus stopped hunting and became a serious Christian.
Because true Christianity and hunting just don’t go together. When he met the stag, he was given the choice, either he kills the animal – then he also kills Christ – or he does not do so and confesses to Christ.
Or spoken in the words of Matthew 25:40:
“What you did to one of the least of my brothers, you did to me.”

The meaning of the Hubertus legend is that man should live in harmony and peace with nature and animals.
He should not be the hunter, but the protector and friend of the animals.
As the saying goes in Mark 16:15: “Go out into the whole world and preach the Gospel to all creatures.”

This certainly does not mean hunting, but instead of making St. Hubertus the patron saint of animals, the church appointed him patron saint of hunters.

Neither is it written anywhere that Jesus Christ, whom both denominations venerate as the Son of God, ever hunted animals.
That would also be very absurd, because God’s 5th commandment is “You shall not kill”.

But every hunt is connected with killing.

In spite of all of this, the so-called Hubertus hunts and Hubertus masses take place in churches every year on November 3rd, Hubertus Day.

We owe the fact that the animals in our society have to suffer so unspeakably millions of times over, not least of all, to the anti-animal teaching of the two great churches

Priest: blessing for animal killers

Even if individual upright pastors or priests try to campaign for animal welfare within the church, they are in opposition to the teaching of their church.
Because the church doctrine justifies factory farming, animal transports, slaughterhouses, animal experiments and hunting to this day.

To this day, both churches deny animals the immortal soul.

Since the 4th century, when the emerging Roman power church ousted early Christianity, the church has been against animals – even though Jesus of Nazareth loved animals and the first Christians were vegetarians.

Animal rights activists within the churches are often dismissed by church circles as over-the-top, neurotic weirdos, so it’s no wonder that so many animal rights activists take the lead and leave the church.

All hunters shouldtake St. Hubertus as example and finally stop hunting

https://www.abschaffung-der-jagd.de/fakten/ethik/schlussmithubertusmessen/index.html

And I mean…When will God’s unworthy servants finally stop hypocrisy and betrayal of animals here on earth?

Can one imagine a hunting Jesus with a rifle who, with greed and joy, shoots, injures, cripples rabbits, deer and other animals?
Because many animals do not lie dead “in the fire” immediately, but only die miserably after days or weeks in terrible agony.
Jesus would – like the merchants from the temple once -, today the hunters with a whip out of the forest and meadow – and hunt church!
“Heavenly nefariousness with which the Christian mob treats animals, kills them while laughing, mutilates or tortures them” – Arthur Schopenhauer already formulated the moral reprehensibility of humans in their behavior towards their older relatives, the animals, in such clear words in the 19th century.

Servant of God: You are truly a “model” of the human species – in a negative sense. Be ashamed of yourself, be very ashamed of yourself.

My best regards to all, Venus

Comment 13/10

this german gentleman is a pastor and hobby-hunter. last week he mistook a father of a family for a bear in canada and killed him: https://videopress.com/v/LQ8EhTKP

Hunting

#StopTheGrind-a laudable initiative from Brussels

Report by Martin Buschmann MEP *

Stop Grindadráp!

The slaughter of whales and dolphins in the Faroe Islands must come to an end.

The driven hunts are not only incompatible with the requirement of species protection, they also involve enormous cruelty to animals. After the animals have been cornered, they are stabbed with metal lances.

Not all of them die immediately from the deep cuts, many animals lie twitching on the beach for a long time until they bleed to death.

The masses of dead animals, the sea stained red with blood – all of this outrages people around the world.
So many dolphins have been killed this year that the island residents cannot consume the meat.

Sea Shepherd environmentalists believe that much of it needs to be disposed of.

This senseless killing must not go on!

This is what I am committed to in Brussels. I will take further steps once the Commission has replied to my question. In cooperation with various animal welfare organizations, pressure is built up until we have achieved our goal!

In an open letter, I and the other supporters of “Stop the Grind” address directly to the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands.

In six detailed points we show why the grindadráp has to stop.
I am confident that common sense will prevail and that we will succeed.
#StopTheGrind

* Martin Buschmann is a German politician.
In the 2019 European elections he was elected as a member of the European Parliament for the Animal Welfare Party.
From July 2019 to January 2020 he was a member of the GUE / NGL parliamentary group, at the beginning of 2020 Buschmann resigned from the parliamentary group and a little later from the animal protection party

More about the union against the Grindadráp can be found here:
https://www.stopthegrind.org/
#stopthegrind

And I mean…A ban on the whale massacre in Faroe Islands is a duty on the part of the EU Commission because members of the European Union are prohibited from killing whales.

The psychopaths slaughtered entire families of whales with pregnant mothers and young animals for the amusement of their own toddlers and families.
Some whales swim for hours in the blood of their family members and try to save them, frightened with fear, knowing what will happen to them too.

We, animal rights activists, and all civilized people are outraged by this massacre and will support every initiative to end this senseless bloodbath.
Which, by the way, is prohibited by European directives and international conventions.

This mass murder cannot be justified by invoking old, outdated traditions and brutally massacre up to a thousand pilot whales and dolphins every year.

Thank you Martin and everyone who leads this collective fight from Brussels with you.

My best regards to all, Venus

Environmental, General News, Hunting

UK (England): Secret Filming Shows (Hunting) Hounds Being Shot Dead At Hunt Kennels.

WAV Comment:  The killing of hunt hounds is not new; it has happened for ages.

In the UK there was a thing known as the ‘cub hunting season’; where new hunt hounds were ‘tested’ out the innocent cubs of a fox pack to see if they had the ‘blood lust’ that was required of them.

Often, if they were found to be too docile and lack that killer instinct, then those hounds were ‘dispatched’ by the hunts – by that, we mean shot through the head and disposed of.  It has been captured on video in the past.

Regards Mark

Photo – Mark / East Kent Hunt Sabs.

Latest:

Secret filming shows hounds being shot dead at hunt kennels

ITV is a major British television station.

Secret filming shows hounds being shot dead at hunt kennels | ITV News

An anti-hunting activist told ITV News Correspondent Rupert Evelyn the dogs are killed and “thrown away like garbage” when they are no longer “fit for purpose”

Secret cameras have recorded huntsmen shooting and killing hounds that had been used for hunting.

The pictures, filmed by anti-hunting groups the Hunt Investigation Team and Keep the Ban and shared exclusively with ITV News, is the first time footage of a hunt shooting its hounds has been shown publicly.

Hounds can be killed for several reasons including being too old to hunt, or if they get ill or injured. The practice is not illegal.

The pictures were taken at the kennels of the Duke of Beaufort’s Hunt in Badminton, Gloucestershire. The Duke of Beaufort’s Hunt told ITV News that its hounds are “humanely euthanised” if they cannot be rehomed. It added that the majority of hounds are “unsuitable for rehoming” because “they are not house-trained and have only ever been used to living in a pack environment”.

The secret footage, recorded over several periods between April and September, shows four separate examples of hounds being shot:

  • In two cases, a huntsman is seen putting a gun to the head of the hound and killing it.
  • In another, the hound appears to be unwell and is carried onto the grass by the hunt staff before being shot.
  • Another shows the hound being shot twice, three minutes apart.

Watch the secret footage at a hunt’s kennels where hounds were filmed being shot dead – click on the above link.

Rob Pownall, Keep The Ban founder, said: “It’s some pretty upsetting footage but this is commonplace for hunts across the country. This is not an acceptable way to end an animal’s life. These hounds suffered immense pain.”The activities shown in the video aren’t actually illegal, but there’s no moral defence for what’s shown.”

The footage comes ahead of a vote later this month by National Trust members to decide whether trail hunts on its land should be banned during the next hunting season.

The National Trust suspended all trail hunting licences last year, alongside a host of other large landowners including Forestry England, following a report by ITV News about the content of webinars hosted by the Hunting Office.

Conservative MP Tracey Crouch, who is co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare, said the footage of the hounds being shot dead is “absolutely heartbreaking” and “distressing”.

“I don’t understand why a dog…needs to be euthanised in this way and I am sure there are much more compassionate ways of putting a dog to sleep”, Ms Crouch told ITV News.

“We have many working dogs across this country in different sectors, such as, for example, the police or army, and I doubt very much that those kinds of dogs are put to sleep with a bolt to the head, so I don’t quite understand why it is appropriate for hunting hounds to be euthanised this way.”

After watching the secret filming, Mike Jessop, a fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, said that from what he saw, he did not believe the huntsmen were professionally trained in putting animals down.”There was no evidence of [the huntsperson] being veterinary trained or veterinary surgeons. The lack of use of any veterinary equipment that one would expect such as stethoscopes to ascertain the dogs were dead was just lacking”, he said.”The evidence from the video doesn’t show any illegal activity. My concern is whether there is any suffering after the shot, because nobody is being careful enough in checking the dogs are truly dead.”In one of the videos, the [hound’s] tail was still waggling very vigorously for quite some time, even when the dog was being loaded in the wheelbarrow.

Continued on next page.

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