‘Despicable Them!’

Some of Oscar Wilde’s “unspeakables in pursuit of the inedible!”

Allan Todd writes: as Gandhi said, “The true measure of a civilisation is how it treats its weakest members.” However, as well as acting for the most vulnerable members of our society, civilised humans must also speak up for all other sentient beings which, because they don’t speak our language, have no voice at all. Which is one of the reasons why Left Unity, at its recent ‘virtual’ National Conference, strengthened its animal rights and anti-hunting Manifesto policies: 

“Left Unity would also ban all forms of hunting wildlife with dogs (including fox hunting), all other blood ‘sports’ (including shooting wildlife for commercial reasons or for fun), the use of snares, and put an end to the badger culls. Where necessary for ecological reasons, humane culling will be licensed and carried out by trained professionals”.

So now we know!!

It’s not often that the words of Oscar Wilde can be improved upon – but I really think he should have used the term “despicables” rather than “unspeakables.” This is because (to misquote yet another popular saying!) the ‘fox’ is finally out of the bag about so-called ‘trail’ hunting!

In leaked video footage of national Hunting Office webinars, the Director of the Masters of the Foxhounds’ Association reveals that laying trails is just a “smokescreen” for killing foxes – and this was confirmed by an ex-police inspector who was also on the advisory panel! In addition, the leaked footage deals with how to justify the use of terriermen – which a speaker refers to as the hunts’ “soft underbelly” – on a ‘trail’ hunt.

Although the 2004 Hunting act allows for chasing a fox ‘accidentally’ put up by the hounds, it doesn’t permit hunters to dig up – or use terriers to flush out – a fox that has reached safety by going to earth. Yet most hunts have terriermen – usually on quad bikes – who do precisely that (which is why they usually wear masks in case they are filmed by hunt observers).

This is, of course, why hunt supporters often act aggressively towards anyone trying to observe their activities – surely, if they were simply obeying the law, they would welcome providing evidence of their legality?! In fact, animal rights activists and those opposed to hunting mammals with dogs have been saying consistently since the 2004 Hunting Act that most hunts are routinely breaking the law. The League Against Cruel Sports, in responding to the leaked webinars, stated: “Fox hunting never went away. Foxes are being chased and torn apart under the ‘guise’ of trail hunting.”

Not surprisingly, this revelation of a sixteen-year long nationwide criminal conspiracy, involving – amongst others – aristocrats and ex-police officers – made national TV news.

The revelations led, in just a matter of days, Forestry England, United Utilities, the National Trust – and even the Lake District National Park Authority – to suspend trail licences for the rest of the ‘season’. Disgracefully, the Church of England – and, both disgracefully and unsurprisingly, the Duchy of Cornwall! – have yet to follow suit.

What they actually said

In over three hours of lectures, more than one hundred hunt masters attended seminars that advised them how best to continue committing criminal acts and how to perjure themselves when dealing with police investigating reported breaches of the 2004 Hunting Act.

Thus the country’s top hunting organisation has just let its mask slip, by revealing that ’trail’ hunting is nothing but a ruse to deceive the public, and break the law, so they can get away with killing British mammals in the most horrific way imaginable. Essentially, hunting organisations have just been sticking two fingers up at the majority of the population – 84% of whom are opposed to ripping live animals to pieces.

Predictably, the Countryside Alliance issued a statement that seems to have been based on extreme Orwellian ‘double-speak’:

“Viewed as a whole, it is perfectly clear that these webinars dealt with the operation and promotion of legal trail hunting and other exempt hunting.”

To help people judge for themselves, here are just a few of the comments made by these ‘despicables’:

(a) Trails as smokescreens:

“It’s a lot easier to create a smokescreen if you’ve got more than one trail layer operating and that is what it’s all about, trying to portray to the people watching that you’re going about legitimate business. (Mark Hankinson, Director of the Masters of the FoxHounds Association)

“Now you know more about hunting than the saboteurs or the courts will know, but what it will do is create that smokescreen or that element of doubt that we haven’t deliberately hunted a fox, so if nothing else you need to record that and it will help us provide a defence to huntsmen.” (Ex-police Inspector Davies)

(b) Terriers on a ‘trail’ hunt

“Terrier work, this is our soft underbelly. A lot of people would say that if you’re going trail hunting, why do you need terriermen following you around? (Mark Hankinson)

(c) Use of mobile phones and cameras

“So something for you hunt staff and terriermen, trail layers and everybody to consider, if you’re recording evidence for the Hunting Act, trail laying, whatever, don’t use the same phones or anything you’ve been using for social media and bragging about what you’ve been doing out hunting.” (Paul Jelley, retired police officer)

Another piece of advice given during these webinars about the use of cameras is just as incriminating:

“What you don’t want to be doing is filming them after you’ve finished laying your trail and filming something that you then don’t want to be shown to anybody, so the answer is yes, everybody with cameras and videos and recording has got to be very careful about what they’re recording. Make sure that we only record all the legal things that we do because of course we only do legal things.”

More of what was said – and what those opposed to hunting argue – can be heard via these YouTube links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obi5wtXH_iM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DhdMqTFzUo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnPsuFTWaQM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehRTEj0UfQI

Extreme animal cruelty

Apart from the question of illegality, there is the whole question of the extreme animal cruelty that is routinely involved in the foxes ‘accidentally’ killed by hunts. One of the biggest myths – let’s be frank, and call them for what they are: lies! – is that the fox is despatched by a quick ‘nip’ at the back of the neck. The reality is that foxes are, quite literally, ripped apart – whilst still alive – by the pack of hounds.

The reality of killing foxes

In addition to foxes, the hounds frequently kill other mammals, including pet cats and dogs. They also kill farm livestock, which is why many farmers refuse to allow hunt to go on their lands.

A sheep falls prey to hounds

Excuses to be barbaric

The killing or injuring of farm animals by foxhounds is a particularly ironic one as regards the myths trotted out by foxhunt supporters to ‘justify’ their barbarism. They frequently claim that foxes have to be destroyed because of the ‘massive’ damage they inflict on livestock. Yet, in addition to the havoc wreaked by their hounds, anyone who’s ever lived for any significant time in the countryside will know that far more farm animals are killed or injured by people’s dogs which are either allowed to roam free or are not on a lead. That’s why farmers often put notices on gates, warning that uncontrolled dogs ‘worrying’ their livestock are liable to be shot.

One particular ‘myth’ involves turning the fox into some kind of evil wild beast, rather like the ‘Hound of the Baskervilles,’ with hunt supporters claiming that foxes are ‘vicious born killers’ that kill merely for sheer fun! Very often, ignorant people – using ‘ignorant’ in its true meaning, ie.,‘not knowing’, NOT in its pejorative sense – get misled by stories of foxes getting into a chicken coop and killing many chickens just for the love of it! Naturalists will know that foxes mainly live off rodents and occasional rabbits, supplementing that diet with worms and beetles. Furthermore, the killing of several chickens in one raid is down to panic: having killed one chicken, the fox fears that the noise made by the other chickens will bring humans and/or dogs.

Controversy in Keswick

These webinar revelations have sparked the renewal of a particular controversy in Keswick, concerning the annual Boxing Day ‘gathering’ of the Blencathra Hunt in the market square. Currently, Keswick – despite being a tourist centre – remains only one of a handful of towns still prepared to accommodate such PR and fundraising stunts for what is essentially barbarism.

For some time now, local anti-hunt campaigners have been trying to get the Town Council to write a letter to the Blencathra Hunt – the heir to the throne’s ‘favourite hunt’ – asking them to stop coming. Last year, when I was still a Green Party town councillor, the vote was tied on sending such a letter. However, the Deputy Mayor (now Mayor) – who had already voted against sending the letter – used his casting vote to prevent this.

Once the leaked webinars had become public knowledge, I contacted Keswick Town Council, asking them to put the sending of a letter on the Agenda for this month’s ‘virtual’ council meeting on 17 December. They have refused and I’m still waiting to receive confirmation that I will be given a slot in the public session in order to raise this matter.

To his credit, Labour Town Councillor, Tony Lywood – who is also a Cumbria County Councillor and was the Labour candidate for Copeland in last year’s general election – has managed to break this ‘conspiracy of silence’, by getting a statement into several of the local papers, in which he supports the suspension of ‘trail’ hunting licences, and calls for the suspensions to be made permanent “If it is found that hunts are using trail or drag hunting as a smokescreen or veil for killing foxes with hounds”.

Basically, any relevant organisation which now refuses to act on this new knowledge will be complicit in deliberate law-breaking and extreme animal cruelty. These barbarians tend to see themselves as somehow superior to those who organise dog-fights. Yet, as despicable as that practice is, it involves two dogs of roughly equal size, in a one-on-one contest. Whereas the hunting and killing of foxes involves a large number of much larger and much stronger hounds against a single fox which can often be not much bigger than a large tabby cat. Essentially, you can dress a barbarian up in a fancy pink jacket and put a black flowerpot on its head but, at the end of the day, it’s still a barbarian!

Keswick Town Councillors now have a very clear choice to make: either finally act to dissociate Keswick from law-breakers and animal abusers – or, by complicit inaction, tarnish Keswick’s image as a tourist destination with the extreme animal cruelty that is the reality of the rural ‘tradition’ that has always been fox hunting. The latter course of ‘inaction’ could prove a very dangerous one for a town which has so many hospitality businesses and employees struggling to survive because of the pandemic.

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Allan Todd is a member of Left Unity, an ecosocialist/environmental and anti-fascist activist, and author of Revolutions 1789-1917