The Factions within the Hunt Saboteur Sphere
Over the last few months, BTM has started to notice factions arising in the hunt saboteur community. But these aren’t just minor tiffs; they are rooted in power struggles and sab politics. From personal spats between leaders of neighbouring saboteur groups to criticism of the Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA), it is becoming increasingly obvious that hunt saboteurs are not as united as they would have people believe. One might assume that all sab groups would unite around their common, irrational and destructive cause of stopping legal trail hunts, yet this isn’t the case. The HSA seemingly doesn’t recognise saboteur groups that aren’t affiliated with it, whilst criticism of local groups by their neighbours isn’t uncommon.
W.A.R VS Neal Buckoke
Weymouth Animal Right (W.A.R) have seemingly developed a war with the notorious Neal Buckoke of the Dorset borders Hunt Saboteurs (DBHS). Their conflict stems from the top with Gill Rayner – leader of W.A.R – and Buckoke – Leader of DBHS – having what sources say is a strong disliking for each other. Buckoke was one of the founding members of W.A.R but was allegedly kicked out of the organisation he helped create for an unknown reason. Despite the two leaders not getting on they share common saboteur traits: rude, aggressive and infamous for trespassing.
Since forming the DBHS, Buckoke has recruited Debbie Hayati, Gill Rayners ex-fiancée. BTM can only assume that this has stoked the fire. Rayner and his colleagues don’t hide their hatred of Buckoke and neither does he: one member told our source that Buckoke is “gobby and stupid”, Buckoke has been overheard referring to W.A.R as “W*nkers”.
Perhaps these two saboteurs need to be reminded they are on the same team.
Neal Buckoke’s enemies don’t stop with W.A.R. He recently commented that his neighbours:, the North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs, “don’t show up for anything”. Somehow, we can believe that with David Tibbles renown for being a ‘stay at home sab’.
Buckoke has also been critical of the HSA after he was supposedly informed by them that he had to change the name of his group due to copyright reasons.
New trend
A new trend of ‘start your own sab group’ has caught our eye. Neal Buckoke isn’t the only one: David Tibbles created Wildlife Crime Action – one of many groups operating within Dorset. As we established in July, its presence is rather underwhelming on the ground, but that hasn’t stopped the splinter group creating its own merch and posting it all over social media. Saboteurs clearly feel that creating more groups increases the county’s collective manpower.
HSA vs Independent Groups
A few weeks ago, a select few hunt saboteur groups turned their attention to shutting down grouse shoots on the Glorious 12th. This ended in total failure for the saboteurs as they were given dispersal orders by the police; however an interesting social media pattern arose as the HSA were very selective with who they credited online.
As we reported, the HSA credited “some groups” - including praising Newcastle Hunt Saboteurs for their efforts, but clearly missed their neighbours, “The Geordie Hunt Saboteurs”, who by their own account kept the police occupied all morning. Hence, it is increasingly apparent that the HSA only praise a select few groups, instead of the ones that share their common cause.
Saboteur motivation
The North London Hunt Saboteurs are a proudly independent group. Why it, or any other group, chooses to remain independent is yet to be discovered. However, like the Geordie Hunt Saboteurs, it also steers clear of the HSA. Throughout the summer, the group has filled their social media pages with advertisements for their podcast. Unfortunately for them, they have had rather underwhelming viewing figures. The final episode, however, gives listeners an insight into its members’ opinions on sabbing. One member commented, “I don’t love sabbing to be honest… I love telling someone when I meet them, I am a hunt saboteur”.
Perhaps it is these controversial comments that deepen the divisions between saboteurs and the groups they form. It is clear that some saboteurs are motivated by the label, while others are drawn to the conflict and even the anarchic lifestyle that comes with it. One thing is clear though: sab groups are not as coherent and uniform as they would like policy members to believe.
