Tag: nature

Due to my real job making regular home deliveries I get to know when folk are away on their holibobs, and when they plan on returning. I could, if I wanted, start a “residents watch” Facebook group for burglars, to ensure those pesky homeowners don’t return early and cause good honest thieves to be inconvenienced while ransacking their homes!

But I’m unlikely to, really, aren’t I? Because, even if I had no moral standards, someone is bound to grass me to the police who would force me to shut down the group, and perhaps rightfully arrest me. Perplexed by the audacity and with a lump in my throat, I’m driven to rant about a Facebook group which Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs today made us aware of in a post, for the group is not so unlike the bizarre scenario of my introduction; different context, same concept; you can’t make up vindictive stupidity on this level…..

The group is called “South Coast Sab Watch,” therefore I presume there’s regional others. Alas, it does what it says on the tin, and condones and promotes illegal hunting to boot. So, let’s just run through the concept here, shall we, so there can be no mistaking? It’s a group for criminal hunters, whether they genuinely believe the baloney they’re maintaining the natural balance of the countryside, or have a sadistic fetish for animal cruelty (as disgraced former Prime Minister and lockdown party animal, Bojo, enlightened us about,) to keep a beady eye on self-organised non-profit collectives out in the field attempting to curb and highlight their illegal activities, and to inform police of said sab groups, if they were ever to incriminate themselves in the pursuit of such.

Is it just me, or can anyone else see a slither of hypocrisy here?! Reminds me of security guards at a factory I once worked at where smoking was banned, who would prowl the site at night looking for staff smoking, with fags on the go themselves!

It’s been drawn to our attention because of a disagreement over CAA rules when the Wiltshire Hunt Sabs flew drones over a SSSI watching the notorious Tedworth Hunt. The South Coast Sab Watch claimed it was illegal to do this in a statement on their group, and wasted the rural crime team’s time with the matter.

The hunt sabs responded, stating “Drone Assist, which anyone can check, confirms that the Kings Play Hill SSSI is not a CAA “non-fly” area for drones at all.” Seems it was perfectly legal to do this, and as a result, the sab watch group fact checked, and updated their post to admit they were wrong and the sabs were right, there was nothing illegal in what the sabs did. They apologised, but only to the followers of the group, not the Wiltshire Hunt Sabs who deserved the apology, which kinda suggests their motive is driven by hateful vengeance; tell us something we don’t already know!

“We hear the same stupid nonsense from the Beaufort who don’t understand the difference on the maps between barred areas (red areas) and areas where you can fly with caution (yellow areas),” Wiltshire Hunt Sabs explained. “What is an offence, the illegal hunting of wild animals with a pack or dogs on ANY location.  Also what can be an offence is the disturbing of wildlife on an SSSI which is exactly what a pack of dogs  and a bunch of horses chasing them through the SSSI constitutes.”

It’s laughable, should you like laughing at the idiocy of a knee-jerk reaction from barbaric snobs so desperate to twist a narrative, but I’m like, hey, is no one mentioning the elephant in the room? Probably not, it’s likely they’d much prefer to be on a big game hunt for some ivory. Look, being the hunters were so quick to pick a potential mistake from the sabs in their surveillance of them, before checking the facts, doesn’t it look rather obvious they’ve something to hide? On a discussion about CCTV in Devizes, a point was made that this is not big brother, if you’re not doing crime then you’ve nothing to worry about; surely it’s the same thing here?

But, more to the point, if they weren’t suspected of illegally hunting, on the grounds many hunts have been caught in the past illegally hunting, and promote and condone it on their social media, the hunt sabs wouldn’t have needed to fly drones in the first bloody place, you utter, utter numpties! For crying out loud, how stupid can you possibly get?!!

It’s with great curiosity as to the defective mind of a fox hunter which caused me to browse their group, where there’s shockingly blatant posts to admit to and pathetically justify their illegal and barbaric activities.

Starter for ten, they love to highlight this wonky idea that they do what they do in order to maintain the balance of nature in the countryside, which poses the question how this is relevant to what they claim to be doing; legally chasing a tea towel garnished with the fake scent of a fox , that will not affect the balance of nature, only cause disruptions for residents. Ergo, they inadvertently confessed to committing crimes against the hunting act.

They home in on our affections for the lovable creatures like hedgehogs, to play with our emotions, claiming badgers are the reason for their apparent decline. Again, in the decade of my nocturnal outside job, it’s not the hedgehog I see in decline at all, in fact there’s an abundance of them, but rarely do I see a badger these days, and I could count the times I’ve seen a fox on one hand. When I do, they’re generally running for their lives, and I futilely plead to their fleeting shadow not to tarnish all humans with the same Basil Brush; boom boom!

Another post called to arms the might of the hunters when millionaire farmers set out to protest in London later this month, against having to pay their fair share of inheritance tax. Not to open another Pandora’s box here, it simply took to mind they are planning to join in the fun whether they’re wanted there, or not. I mean, does every farmer agree with fox hunting, or will they be like the unwarranted gatecrasher at a party? Humm, I could only answer this one with speculation. History repeating though; when farmers protested over fuel rises in 2002, it was hijacked by pro-hunters who changed the objective to suit their whim.

But what amazes and disgusts me most in equal measure, is how social media groups promoting illegal activities and creating falsehoods against those campaigning against it are allowed to continue. Police should shut them down for spreading misinformation, surely, as they would if they were condoning a different crime.

Again, it seems it is up sab organs like our hard-working volunteers of the Wiltshire Hunt Sabs to call them out. Well done once again to Wiltshire Hunt Sabs, you got them lying, hook, line and sinker! As we move closer to the Boxing Day incongruous pageants, we need and support them as much as we can, so find them here and buy them a coffee.