Hunt kennels targeted in night of vandalism by animal rights activists
Hunt kennels and the headquarters for hunting in the UK were all targeted by animal rights activists in a spate of vandalism in Gloucestershire on Saturday night.
Kennels of the Duke of Beaufort’s and the VWH were the subject of the attacks that took place late on Saturday and in the early hours of Sunday and included the Hunting Office’s new base.
The letters ALF (a reference to the direct-action animal rights group the Animal Liberation Front) and the message “Enforce the Ban” were scrawled in red paint on the driveways of both hunts and the walls of the Hunting Office.
Reports that the Cotswold was also targeted are unfounded.
Car and lorry tyres were let down and paint stripper poured onto some vehicles.
Brian Fanshawe of the Masters of Foxhounds Association said: “There was quite a lot of vandalism over the night and it would appear that the Animal Liberation Front has been to the three places, targeting hunt servants’ vehicles.”
Today (18 February) marks three years since the Hunting Act came into play and it is thought the attacks could be meant to coincide with that.
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.