A podcast by Charlie Moores looking in detail at a response he received to an email sent to Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner (or PCC ) Philip Wilkinson OBE questioning the use of police resources to chaperone the Avon Vale Hunt at their meet in north Wiltshire on the 19th of February, the day after Storm Eunice caused extensive damage to parts of the county.
Information on how many police were present is taken from multiple social media accounts belonging to hunt sabs and monitor groups (especially Wiltshire Hunt Sabs), a local village Facebook group, some personal communications he had the next day, and what Charlie witnessed himself.
Why produce this podcast? Charlie has never hidden the fact that he is totally opposed to fox hunting. He says so on social media and it’s a recurring theme in Off the Leash podcasts. Stopping hunting is – for him – entirely about protecting wildlife from illegality. The Avon Vale Hunt is very local to Charlie, and he finds the sights and sounds of them hunting, chilling.
More to the point though, is that Mr Wilkinson’s emailed response seems to Charlie to almost perfectly demonstrate how the ‘trail hunting clause’ in the Hunting Act is being used as a cover by fox hunts to allow illegal foxhunting outlines clearly how some authorities view and respond to sabs and monitors, and encapsulates why the debate around fox hunting is so confused.
Association of Police and Crime Commissioners Philip Wilkinson OBE
War on Wildlife Project Jonathon Seed | Wiltshire PCC candidate says only trolls talk about hunting
Wiltshire Council Website Update On Storm Eunice Red Warning
IFAW Trail of Lies Report
Wiltshire Council Website Precept Consultation Final Results
Charlie Moores on Twitter Local Residents are Boiling Mad
Devon County Sabs Facebook Post Avon Vale 19.2.22
Wild Mammal Persecution UK Hunts Now Being Treated as OCGs?
