The latest investigations, breaking stories and special reports from BTM. We expose the criminality and intimidation of so-called hunt saboteurs across the UK, giving a voice to the rural communities they target.
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Despite being barely three weeks into the lifespan of the new Labour government, Parliament is set to rise for the summer recess on Tuesday 30 July and won't sit again until 2 September. For many MPs this is an ideal opportunity to catch up on correspondence from their
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Police are investigating allegations of fraud made against the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) by its former chief executive Andy Knott. In damning allegations, he claims the charity’s fundraising had been misleading, and has accused it of sacrificing its policy goals “at the altar of political interference”. A spokesperson
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Chester Crown Court has denied the appeal of renowned hunt saboteur and leader of the Stockport Monitors Paul Allman, upholding the sentence of 20 weeks imprisonment delivered by Judge John McGarva in August 2023. . Allman, widely seen as the “face of UK hunt saboteurs” appeared before the crown court for
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In the short five months since we launched, Behind the Masks has revealed some frightening truths about hunt saboteurs’ psychology and the motivations behind their often violent and unlawful behaviour. They gather across the country and come from all different walks of life but one common thread seems to run
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* Feb 13, 2024 The law banning the ownership of American Bully XL dogs in England and Wales came into force on 1 February 2024, motivated by a worrying rise in fatal attacks by the breed, particularly against children and old people. Despite this, animal rights activists and hunt saboteurs remain
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Of all the alarming behaviours exhibited by hunt saboteurs, the use of citronella (an animal repellent derived from the cymbopogon plant) spray to harm hounds is one of the most abhorrent. Whether hunt saboteurs use the chemical is not a point of debate – hunts have collected hundreds of photographs of
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49-year-old Stockport resident and notorious hunt saboteur Paul Allman has been slapped with a five-year Criminal Behaviour Order, demonstrating the illegality and damage of anti-hunt saboteur actions. This order, secured at Chester Magistrates on 8 December 2023, is a stern response to a relentless series of Allman's unapologetic
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After the introduction of the 2004 Hunting Act, hunts across the UK sought to retain the recreation and sense of community offered by hound sports by adopting trail hunting: a legal practice that involves riders (on horseback or on foot) following a manufactured scent along a pre-determined trail with hounds
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Many in the sab community describe themselves as animal rights activists and draw a large degree of moral justification from the belief that their actions are motivated by compassion and respect for animals. The issue with this comes when so-called ‘direct action’ is misinformed and becomes dangerous. In the sab
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For decades hunt saboteur and monitoring groups have harassed, intimidated, and attacked legal trail hunts without fear of responsibility or consequence. While many of the individuals involved are harmless pests, some are opportunistic thugs who routinely intimidate bystanders, damage property, and cause harm to the very animals they claim to