Hunt Saboteurs Association News Release 4th September 2020

Mark Vincent and Ian Parkinson have abandoned their appeal over the sentence they received for releasing a captive fox to be hunted by the Kimblewick Hunt. The pair had received 12 week prison sentences, suspended for 1 year, and community service after being found guilty of keeping a fox captive and inflicting suffering upon it in breach of the Animal Welfare Act. Both men were employed by the Kimblewick Hunt at the time of the offence on 1st January 2019.

The prosecution came about after footage was passed to the Hunt Saboteurs Association by the Covert Film Unit showing the two men releasing a captive fox to be chased and killed by the Kimblewick hunts hounds. Their actions not only cause unnecessary harm to the fox but were also carried out to facilitate illegal hunting.

The footage was filmed on New Years Day 2019 when the hunt met at Moreton, Thame, Oxon. It shows the hunt terrier men using draining rods to force the fox, that they’ve been holding captive, out of a drainage pipe then being thrown into the wood for hounds to chase. The terriermen can clearly be heard communicating with the huntsman agreeing when the best time is to release the fox which is given a brief head start so that the hunt riders experience a chase rather than a quick kill.

In her summing up the judge stated that it was high level, premeditated animal cruelty that had been done to facilitate illegal acts. In mitigation she said the two men were clearly acting under instruction from those higher up in the hunt.

Lee Moon, Spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association, stated: “It's amazing that Vincent and Parkinson had the gall to even consider an appeal considering the strength of the evidence against them. It has been clear throughout this whole process that the two men were disposable lackeys for the masters of the Kimblewick Hunt, none of whom have been brought to justice for the role they played in this awful incident. In fact Mark Vincent, having served his purpose as a scapegoat for the hunt has now been disposed of and is now longer employed by the Kimblewick.

We still await any kind of investigation or censure by the Masters of Foxhounds Association but as we've always made quite clear, this behaviour is commonplace in hunting and the only message the MFHA will be giving it's members is – Don't get caught.

Previous releases about this story can be found here:

https://www.huntsabs.org.uk/index.php/92-news/press-releases/667-kimblewick-hunt-terrier-men-given-suspended-sentence-for-animal-cruelty

https://www.huntsabs.org.uk/index.php/92-news/press-releases/665-kimblewick-hunt-terrier-men-found-guilty-of-animal-cruelty

https://www.huntsabs.org.uk/index.php/92-news/press-releases/645-kimblewick-hunt-caught-on-film-hunting-captive-fox