Ruth Eisenbud, Ecoanimal Correspondent

Behind the fancy attire and rituals, there’s only cold-blooded sadism against animals.

Editor’s Note:
In Britain fox hunts are often a class issue, with working and middle class youths battling the paid goons of the “master class”, the game wardens and their hirelings, mindlessly serving bloodthirsty snobs and decadents that need to be denounced, opposed at every juncture, and seen for the moral depravity they represent. These self-fashioned aristocrats are not fit to be ruling anyone, and their “elegant” customs, such as fox hunting, speak clearly to the reality of their base instincts. Long live the hunt saboteurs!—PG

Hunt Saboteurs Association News Release 30/12/2013

On Saturday December 28th hunt saboteurs from Yorkshire attended a Pony Club meet of the York & Ainsty South Foxhounds at Escrick Park.

Three foxes that were deliberately hunted were aided in their escape by the sabs through the course of the day and, as the sun was going down, three terrier men were found just as they were about to finish digging the second fox out of an active badger sett.

The sabs began to obstruct the men from continuing this illegal activity and the situation began to escalate, with about 8-10 more men with spades soon arriving at the scene. One sab was smashed in the head with the pistol the men planned to shoot the fox with and was also knocked down in a field by the men’s pickup truck. The sabs were not deterred by this, fought off the attackers and stood their ground.

On stopping the dig-out the sabs had to prize a terrier from the fox as it had locked on to the fox’s face. Sabs then had to help the fox free from the earth as the earth around it had been caved in, leaving only its head exposed. The fox escaped with little visable injury, the terrier’s face was badly wounded from fighting the fox.

The group are now preparing to prosecute the hunt for their actions and ask Escrick Park to stop facilitating these criminal activities. Anyone concerned by the activities of the Y&AS hunt should contact Escrick Park ( http://www.escrick.com/contact-us) to ask that they refuse the hunt access from now on.

Lee Moon, spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association, stated: “Only two days after Boxing Day we see the real face of fox hunting. Boxing Day is the sanitized, media friendly press stunt that the hunting community use each year to pull the wool over the eyes of the British public. This is the grim reality of what occurs the rest of the time when the media spotlight is elsewhere. Escrick Park are a major supporter of the York and Ainsty South Hunt and are just as guilty as they allow these illegal acts to take place on their land. We call on them to ban the hunt from their estate before they become embroiled in any legal action taken against the hunt.”