Hunt sabotage
Hunt sabotage is the direct action that animal rights activists and animal liberation activists undertake to interfere with hunting activity.
Anti-hunting campaigners are divided into hunt saboteurs and anti-hunt monitors to monitor for cruelty and report violations of animal welfare laws.
- Interventionists usually use citronella sprays to mask the scent of the animal the hounds and hunters track or use sound and visual distractions to prevent the hunters from being successful, destroy hunting towers[1] and enter hunting estates and farms to disarm animal traps.[2][3]
- Non-interventionists use video, photography and witness statements to support prosecution of hunters who commit offenses or to raise awareness of issues they consider show hunting as cruel, ineffective or in a bad light.
- Both hunt saboteurs and independent monitors share similar techniques as both hunt saboteurs and independent monitors document and support the prosecution of those caught illegally hunting. The methods of documentation used by both saboteurs and monitors are usually videoing and photographing the illegal activities conducted by the hunt.
By country
In the United Kingdom the interventionists are usually members of the Hunt Saboteurs Association, or independent hunt saboteurs or independent anti-hunt groups while the non-interventionists are often members of the League Against Cruel Sports or, more recently, Protect Our Wild Animals or the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Every year in Spain, organisations such as Equanimal or the platform Matar por matar, non[4] are involved in the sabotage of the Copa Nacional de Caza del Zorro (Spanish: "National Fox Hunt Cup") following the hunters making noise with megaphones to scare foxes and preventing them from being killed.[5][6]
See also
References
- ^ "Hunting towers burned". North American Animal Liberation. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ^ "HSA Tactics Book - Legal". Hunt Saboteurs Association. Archived from the original on 24 November 2007. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ^ "Traps & Snares: Secret Sabotage". Hunt Saboteurs Association. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ^ "Equanimal se suma a la espantada del zorro el día de la copa nacional". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 8 February 2007. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ^ Lombardero, Xavier (28 January 2008). "Incidentes entre cazadores de zorros y ecologistas acaban con un detenido". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 April 2018.
- ^ "«Es una matanza, no una competición deportiva», afirman los ecologistas". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). 24 January 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
Further reading
Books
- Braunstein, Mark Mathew (November–December 1995). "Confessions of a Hunt Saboteur: A Real Sab Story". Country Connections. ISSN 1082-0558. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
The hunters took aim (upon deer, not upon us) and were just about to release the bowstrings. BOOM! The blasts from our foghorns twice sent deer fleeing to safety.
- Pedler, Ian (2008). Save our stags : the long struggle against Britain's most controversial blood sport. Bristol: Black Daps. ISBN 9780955478604.