Seavington huntsman pleads guilty to hunting act charge
Seavington huntsman David Parker has pleaded guilty to one charge under the Hunting Act.
The case was at Yeovil Magistrates Court on 12 September. It was the culmination of a season of covert surveillance of hunts in Dorset by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
Masked and camouflaged IFAW employees were recorded across the county on dozens of occasions between March 2012 and April 2013.
Mr Parker, of Seavington St Mary, Ilminster, was ordered to pay a fine of £500 relating to an incident in Winsham, Dorset, in January.
Tim Bonner of the Countryside Alliance said: “Mr Parker accepted that he briefly hunted a fox, although the evidence clearly showed that it was not harmed in any way.
“One conviction for a minor offence is, however, an unjustifiable return for a completely disproportionate campaign of surveillance by IFAW on Dorset hunts.”
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.