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New York Times
New York Times
Some groups still ride out even though the hunting of foxes using dogs was
banned in 2004. They are confronted by anti-hunt activists in a very British clash
of class, tradition and town versus country.
WARWICKSHIRE, England — The S.U.V. trundled along the winding English
country road at dawn, its five masked occupants decked head to toe in black as the
hills of the Warwickshire countryside rolled past.
Squinting through the rain-flecked windows, they spotted their target in the
distance: hunters on horseback on the grounds of a grand 18th-century estate.
The distant howls of baying dogs sounded out, their cries drawing closer.
Suddenly, a pack of about 20 hounds appeared at the end of the narrow road,
followed by dozens of galloping horses, their riders sporting navy blue jackets and
cream jodhpurs.
Cries of “Go, go, go!” rang from the vehicle as the doors flung open and the
masked occupants leaped out.
The chase was on: The hunters had become the hunted.
On these muddy fields in England’s rural heartland, a kind of cold war rages. In
simple terms, the conflict is between those who support fox hunting and those
who are against it. But at a deeper level, the dispute reveals the class divides,
clash of traditions and town versus country arguments that still fracture British
society.
Although the hunting of foxes — or any wild mammals — using dogs was
outlawed in Britain in 2004, “trail hunting,” where the hounds are supposed to be
chasing an artificially laid scent, is allowed.
Anti-hunt activists say that the exemption is a smoke screen and that the dogs
often wind up killing an actual fox. A killing can be prosecuted if there is
evidence that the hunters should have been aware that the hounds were pursuing a
live animal and did nothing to stop them. Hundreds of such cases have been
brought over the past decade.
The hunters say that they only trail hunt on private land with permission from
farmers and that they do not kill live animals; they accuse the activists of
trespassing.
The activists riding in the S.U.V. that dawn are part of a small group, commonly
known as “hunt saboteurs,” who venture into Warwickshire, a county in western
England, intent on disrupting the practice of fox hunting, a centuries-old blood
sport in which the animals are tracked, chased and then killed by trained hounds.
At least three times a week, rain or shine, the activists pursue the galloping riders
by S.U.V. and on foot through forests and fields, both to film evidence of what the
activists say are illegal activities and to do whatever they can to hinder the actual
hunt.
Turning the hunters’ tools against them, the activists blow their own hunting horns
and crack whips in an attempt to confuse the hounds. They also wield canisters of
citronella spray to mask the foxes’ scent and employ small amplifiers that play the
sound of crying hounds to unsettle the pursuing pack further. Every activist has a
walkie-talkie.
On this occasion, the activists were targeting the Warwickshire Hunt, founded in
1791 and considered one of England’s most prestigious hunting groups.
As she trudged along in pursuit of the hunt, Cathy Scott, a 20-year veteran of the
group, said, “It’s a war, and it’s a war that needs winning.”
The activists have spent years harrying the hunters. To confuse the pursuit of the
fox, they master use of the hunting horn and learn dozens of distinctive shouts,
including the “tallyho” that is yelled when the animal is spotted. “To fight your
enemy, you have to think like them,” said Ms. Scott, 46.
Saboteurs have been known to risk serious injury by charging into the path of
sprinting horses to get between them and a fox. Ms. Scott says she has been
assaulted multiple times by hunt supporters, at least once badly enough to need
hospitalization.
Death threats, she adds, are commonplace. Some activists in other saboteur
groups, which exist across England, report that their vehicles have been rammed
off the road. Mutilated foxes have been dumped outside homes. Gasoline has been
poured through letter slots.
The risks are worth it, the saboteurs say, if a fox can be spared the gruesome death
that comes if the hounds catch up with it.
“It’s not a quick kill,” Ms. Scott said. “It’s brutal. They’re ripped to shreds.”
To the hunters, the saboteurs are “rural terrorists” threatening an age-old tradition
in pursuit of a class-driven vendetta.
Sam Butler, 65, the Warwickshire Hunt’s chairman, said, “They simply do not
like us.”
“They don’t like what we stand for,” he added. “It’s payback time for this, that
and the other. Knock the toffs. Knock the Tories. Red-faced gentlemen in red
coats riding horses, that sort of thing.”
The saboteurs, he suggested, are not really motivated by concern for the fox.
“This was always about political prejudice,” he said.
The hunt saboteurs — a term the activists embrace — say they are wildlife lovers,
driven to vigilantism because of government apathy. Ms. Scott works in customer
service. Another member, Dave Graham, 37, works in online retail. The group’s
driver, Martina Irwin, 56, runs a small bakery.
“We’re just ordinary people with ordinary backgrounds,” Ms. Irwin said as she
pushed her fogging glasses back up the bridge of her nose. “The state won’t stop
them, so we have to.”
For the activists and the huntsmen alike, this is a propaganda war, too — a battle
for hearts and minds. Video cameras are everywhere, some wielded by the
activists, some carried by the hunters.
As one of the hunters came galloping past, she shouted at Mr. Graham: “You’re
trespassing! Don’t film my children!”
Unfazed, he zoomed in with a hand-held camcorder on a group of hunters
standing nearby on the windswept hillside. Without uttering a word, they turned
their phones on him, recording the recorder.
Video clips of the confrontations are uploaded to social media accounts with tens
of thousands of followers.
“The camera is the most effective tool post-ban,” Mr. Graham said, referring to
the 2004 prohibition. The saboteurs turn the footage over to law enforcement in
the hope of prompting prosecutions. (Even the videos can be contentious. Two
years ago, Mr. Graham was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and
received a suspended sentence for presenting artificially looped footage of an
assault on him by a member of another hunt to make it appear as though he had
been repeatedly attacked.)
There is a looking-glass quality to the confrontations, with the hunters tracking the
saboteurs as they trail the hunters. There is familiarity, too: That morning, a
member of the hunt group, riding not a horse but a quad bike, was radioing in the
activists’ position.
“You’re trespassing, Cathy!” he shouted at Ms. Scott.
“How do you know my name?” she yelled back.
“Everyone knows your name around here, Cathy,” he replied. “You’re famous!”
The hunters often refer to the activists as “townies,” accusing them of being naïve
to the importance of hunting to rural communities. The activists argue that fox
hunting encapsulates the brazen “mafia mentality” of England’s upper classes.
Ms. Irwin, the bakery owner, underlined that tension. “I grew up on a council
estate,” she said. “Here, it’s about privilege. They have wealth. Everything they
will ever need. They shout insults at us for being poor, but the countryside is
wasted on the people who live here.”
The opposition Labour Party has vowed to eliminate the “trail hunting” exemption
if it wins the next general election. Another hunting group in the area, the
Atherstone Hunt, has already shut down, partly because of the activists’ efforts.
“It shows what a small group of working-class people can do,” Ms. Scott said. “It
literally is a dying sport. There will come a time when this will disappear.”
As it grew dark, Ms. Irwin pulled up in the S.U.V. and the saboteurs jumped in.
“Have they behaved today?” she asked, referring to the hunters.
“No foxes today,” Mr. Graham replied.
ПЕРЕКЛАД:
ВИЗНАЧЕННЯ:
1) Tally-ho is the traditional cry made by the huntsman to tell others the quarry has
been sighted. It may also be used with directions, including "away" and "back".
ПЕРЕКЛАД:
Tally-ho — це традиційний крик мисливця, щоб повідомити іншим, що
здобич помічена. Його також можна використовувати з напрямками,
включно з «геть» і «назад».
2) A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of
road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised
ground clearance and four-wheel drive.
ПЕРЕКЛАД:
Спортивний позашляховик (SUV) — це класифікація автомобілів, яка
поєднує в собі елементи дорожніх легкових автомобілів із характеристиками
позашляховиків, такими як підвищений кліренс і повний привід.