General Welcome Page:

Derby Animal Rights is a group of like-minded people who regularly take direct action against all forms of bloodsports, vivisection and general animal cruelty. During the main hunting season we attend hunts all over the region, and in the summer we support animal rights campaigns such as Newchurch and SHAC while also finding time to protest at circuses, local shops selling fur and fundraising.

As our main activity is hunt sabotage this website focuses on mainly this issue but touches on our other campaigns and provides links to many other animal-related organisations. Hunt saboteurs use a combination of voice calls and the hunting horn to gain control of the hounds from the huntsman and distract them from the hunted animal - these tactics are extremely effective and save thousands of foxes and other animals every year. We also sabotage other bloodsports such as shooting (some people shoot grouse, pheasants and basically anything that moves!) and angling. Our tactics are non-violent but we manage to spoil many a day's "sport" every season. Direct action is the only way to protect Britain's wildlife until the Hunting with Dogs bill is finally passed. Our aim is to stop the slaughter of wildlife now.

Our tactics cause no harm to hounds, horses, people or any animals at all. Hunters and their supporters have made serious efforts to discredit and slander us because we are so effective and stop their sick idea of fun. This does not come as any surprise – people who torment animals for fun are bound to be bullies and thugs. Aggression from these people has never deterred us or hampered our success.

Thanks for the tremendous amount of support from the general public including donations, information and even invitations for tea! Please do bear in mind however, that the majority of members work and we also cover a large region. We may not be able to reach the hunt you ask us to deal with, if we have already committed resources to another one, but please keep the information coming and you may see us in your neighbourhood yet!

Autumn 2002:

While the Government still dithers about, deciding whether or not to ban hunting, saboteurs are already going out saving lives as the main hunting season starts. Cub hunting (let's keep with tradition and forget the PC "autumn hunting"" term invented in the early 90's) has been going on since early September in the region.

Since the large Countryside Alliance march on the 22nd of September, things have changed, perhaps for the long term. Decent civilised people are starting to realise what a threat to democracy and humanity the bloodsports fraternity are and the Derby group has swelled in numbers as a result. The League has reported a similar success.

Unfortunately the "other side" has also seen a change. They have adopted a violent "nothing can touch us" attitude and assaults on saboteurs and their property has increased dramatically. Baseball bats have been seen at the Meynell & South Staffs- this is a first from a hunt that normally only threatens violence. The Quorn is resorting to riding down sabs in the field and the season has barely begun yet!

Thinking of joining us but now thinking twice about it? This isn't a rural vs town issue. Country folk are scared of coming out of their houses when the hunt is about. Why should our indigenous forms of wildlife be persecuted like this by a small minority of hoodlums? Please get in touch and join up. Help hunt sabs, the countryside and our wildlife in their hour of need.

Summer 2002:

The controversial badger cull run by DEATHRA (the government Department for Killing as Many Animals as Possible) is currently coming to an end for this season in the Derbyshire / Staffordshire area. DEATHRA claim that this cull is a necessary "experiment" to determine if there is a link between Bovine Tuberculosis and badgers. Ten areas in the country have been selected and these areas are further split down into three:

• A Proactive Area - badgers are trapped, shot and autopsied for TB.
• A Reactive Area - an area predefined where an identical cull happens if there is a nearby TB case.
• Monitoring Only - badger setts are observed and activity monitored only.

There are a number of gaping holes in the logic of this cull which the government are either unaware of or have chosen to ignore. (Remember that their scientific advisors defined the strategy for the Foot and Mouth crisis!)

• No other external factors have been taken into account so TB cases will also be dependent on domestic animal movements and land fertilisation methods.
• At least 80% of badgers should be killed in the reactive and proactive areas to judge the experiment a success. Without any disruption from activists they are killing no where near as many as this.
• In the Staffordshire area it is estimated between 25% and 30% of farmers are preventing DEATHRA hunting badgers on their land, thereby creating pockets of migrating badgers as new territories open up.
• DEATHRA themselves (in their promotional leaflets) admit they have no way of accurately estimating the badger population.
• If a link is discovered from the at-best flawed and circumstantial evidence what does the government propose to do? A mass nationwide extermination programme of a protected species would finish off the current Labour government quite nicely!

In New Zealand there was thought to be a link between possums and bovine TB. Rather than waste time and money killing an imported species from Australia, a large scale innoculation of possums was undertaken. Why is then the British government not using the same strategy? Badgers are, after all, indigenous to this country and part of our fragile rural ecology.

The local Proactive Area is in Staffordshire just East of Leek. The local Reactive area is just North of Ashbourne in Derbyshire. Traps, as shown in the photograph, are placed near setts and baited with peanuts. They are left over night. Any badgers found trapped the next morning are shot with a .22" pistol (I thought handguns were illegal? - but then I also thought interfering with badgers was illegal!) and the carcasses loaded into their long-wheelbase hardtop Landrovers. They are then shipped off down south for TB testing. The cost to the taxpayer for each badger shot is reported to be £7000! This excludes any extra costs resulting from activists and extra (from nonexistent before the cull, to helicopters, dogs and 4x4's during the cull!) police patrols.

It has been reported that activists have been tripping the traps prematurely, releasing badgers, and removing or destroying traps. (Those hooligans - shame on you!) In Staffordshire it was reported that local people cheered for the saboteurs and shouted at the police to leave them alone! One villager shouted at the police officer who had just pulled a vehicle "Haven't you got anything better to do in Blair's police state? We don't see you normally, so **** off!"

Anyone with information on traps or DEFRA vehicles (newish olive green LWB van-type landrovers with blacked out rear windows) please contact against@badger-killers.co.uk.

Spring 2002:

It's about that time of the year when sabs and wildlife throughout the country can breathe a sigh of relief knowing they may live a little longer after all. Most hunts have their final meets in March and sabs can finally hang up their muddy boots, for a short while anyway...

This last season has been unusual to say the least. The autumn hunting season (for hares and foxes) starts around September (the official start being in November) but due to Foot and Mouth restrictions the start of this last season was put back until Monday the 17^th of December.

During this last season we have also seen a ban on hunting with dogs passed by the Scottish Parliament. I am sure that sabs north of the border won't quite be able to pack up and find something else to do with their time yet. They'll still have their work cut out making sure those hunts comply with the new laws!

We have also heard yet again that there will be yet another vote on similar legislation in England and Wales. (I don't quite understand why they need to vote yet again - isn't that a waste of taxpayer's money? We know the result will be similar to last time.) It's time to find out whether English/Welsh politicians have the guts to ignore the intimidation and threats, that they will no doubt receive as did the Scottish politicians.

All this bad news has been too much for the blood-lust fraternity and they have finally cracked. This past season has been the most violent that sabs have ever known. I doubt a sab group in the country has escaped without someone being injured this season. Generally this has not been helped by corruption and bias in the media, police and the Crown Prosecution Service, but are we starting to see a change?

The latest attack on a Sheffield sab was fully reported in some national papers, teletext and Radio 1, quite truthfully. The Guardian has also covered the issue of hunt sabotage in an informative way, from a fairly neutral perspective. I can also honestly say that I've been glad of a police escort on occasion recently, as the violent criminal element (present in most hunts) has been all too apparent.

It is a shame our local rag isn't quite as honest or professional as the Nationals when it comes to reporting our successful sab of the Meynell and South Staffs in the distinguished presence of HRH Prince of Wales and his entourage! (See Diary)

Winter 2002:

DERBY FALLS VICTIM TO ESCALATION IN HUNT VIOLENCE

Despite her claims to being a police officer, sabs then surrounded her car, opened all her doors, and literally soaked her with a citronella/water mix used normally as a scent blocker. (I'm sure Janet George would approve of us following her bio-security advice!) She was then told to leave. She received no help from any hunt staff or support and was last seen driving at high speed in the opposite direction. We were later informed that she was the kennel hand!

It must be stressed we usually have a fairly amicable relationship with the High Peak and we received an apology from the hunt master present. We pointed out the geographic disadvantages of the High Peak which is sandwiched between Derby, Manchester, Sheffield, and Nottingham and the consequences if a repeat of this incident should occur!

A Derby Sab was yet again attacked the following week, this time by the whipper-in who repeatedly beat him over the head with the metal end of his whip. The hunt master apologised again but this time the whipper-in received a written warning and left the hunt by car as he was ordered to dismount. It is a shame hunters very rarely work out that we will not bow down to intimidation and violence. The next week we returned with the combined support of Sheffield and a token force from Nottingham and Leeds. The hunt, I think, got the message this time and packed up early after only one and half hours!

IT'S OFFICIAL: Landrover, always well known as the preferred ride for the bloodsport fraternity and unashamedly marketed as such, is now the most popular form of transport for Hunt Saboteurs in the East Midlands! Leicester, Derby and now Nottingham have all selected the original Landrover for its ruggedness, maintainability and go-any-where abilities. This is starting to give Sabs an edge over hunters who in contrast, are going to the more 'comfy' plastic and chrome monsters from Japan. Plastic bumpers and road tyres don't really cut it on overgrown green lanes in the UK.

It is interesting to note that the purchase of Nottingham's Landrover would not have been possible without the Quorn Hunt! The sale of video footage to a large US news network showing the alleged, often criminal behaviour of hunt staff and support, provided the major financial contribution toward the purchase of the vehicle.

Christmas 2001:

nce upon a time there was a young lad called Roger who lived on a large country estate with his mother. The estate was centred in the middle of rural North Yorkshire and was owned by an elderly and eccentric couple who leased the land out to local tenant farmers.

Unusually for this area the couple did not allow any hunting or shooting on their land. This meant that there was no need for gamekeepers. The farmers also used the traditional and well proven method of crop rotation to guarantee good healthy crops and animals. This was many years before the word 'organic' became fashionable.

Roger took for granted the amazing variety of flora and fauna that he observed on his long walk to school everyday. The birdlife was truly amazing. He saw many sparrows, finches, lapwings, curlews, falcons, and owls. There was a variety of different owls. In a half dead oak tree, in a bend in the long drive, there lived a little owl, and on his way home on a dark winter's evening, the graceful white spectre of a barn owl was a common sight. Screech owls, wood pigeons and cuckoos could be heard at different times of the day.

Unfortunately Roger eventually moved away from this estate and into the more modern, managed countryside of North Yorkshire. By contrast this area was 'dead' with just large numbers of pheasant and very little else. Roger grew up realising that the propaganda that the bloodsports fraternity broadcast is little more than a tissue of lies. Anyone who really knows the countryside must realise this, but unfortunately the people who make the rules are neither from the country, nor do they know anything about it.

My Christmas Wish is that one day all children will be able to live or go out to the countryside and enjoy the sights and sounds that Roger took for granted in his childhood. (Roger is now a hunt saboteur and 'an ignorant townie'!)

Autumn 2001:

John Gill is yet the latest sab/anti-snare campaigner to be seriously assaulted by 'people' who show as little respect for human life as they show for animal life. John has campaigned tirelessly against the use of snares and traps through the media (with surprising success) and actively by disarming/removing them. He has been prosecuted at least once for disarming and removal of illegal traps and snares by arguably bias magistrates.

By going public he ran the risk of reprisals by the large criminal element within the 'country sports' fraternity. Perhaps this explains better than anything the need for sabs to generally hide their identities using hoods or masks. Even the single-digit-IQ pro-hunt brigade/media may realise now why we do this and stop asking why!! The police claim to be looking into the affair but I bet anyone, that they will uncover 'zero' and nobody will be charged, judging by their previous attitude to John.

In my view IT IS THE CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS CRIME! By dropping the case against Martin Maynard who allegedly ran over Steve Christmas (a hunt saboteur) last year they put out the message loud and clear that they would tolerate violence against hunt saboteurs and animal rights campaigners. Two saboteurs have previously been killed by hunt vehicles and no charges were brought against the perpetrators (not even, driving without due care and attention)! Injuries are also all-too-common. Why should the animal-abusing thugs stop here? We can expect more injuries and deaths in the coming years until the Law and the CPS realise they are there to protect EVERYONE, not just the aristos, wealthy landowners and their mates!

To balance it out I investigated claims of violence against rural animal abusers. Besides a few broken windows carried out on the Old Slurry and Burstow after the Steve Christmas attack, I can only find one reference to a 'banged shin' reported by a farmer after attempting to evict a sab from his land. (How he did this is slightly vague!) It is about time the media and the police woke up to who is really committing the violent acts!

Summer 2001:

Although millions of domestic farm animals were pointlessly destroyed during the Foot and Mouth Outbreak, in contrast, wildlife throughout the country benefited from the almost complete closure of the countryside. With no hunting, and little shooting, fishing, trapping and poisoning our wildlife must have had their best spring in more than 200 years!

As soon as the outbreaks started to tail off in numbers, the pro-bloodsports brigade ignored the rural community as a whole and started to apply pressure to the Government to lift restrictions. By some amazing coincidence DEFRA (MAFF) lifted restrictions in the majority of upland areas just in time for The Glorious Twelfth.