Blood Sports at Hatfield House.
On Saturday 9th March 2024, Hatfield House played host to the closing meet of the Cambridgeshire Hunt with Enfield Chace – an organisation dedicated to the illegal hunting of foxes with dogs. They tried to keep this a secret - but the truth has come out.
The meet was monitored by Hertfordshire Police, North London Hunt Saboteurs and East Northants Hunt Saboteurs, who saw the Hunt send hounds into woodland and hedgerows. Hatfield House supported the Hunt in their illegal activities through deployment of their own security, who attempted to intimidate Hunt Saboteurs on public footpaths with their own guard dogs.
The Cambridge & Enfield enjoy the freedom of Hatfield House and its grounds because the woodland is gated private land, making it difficult for the police and monitoring groups to access. This means that they have an easier time getting away with the cruel and illegal killing of wildlife. There is an ongoing investigation into an illegal hunt near Wheathampstead in February - an area hunted exclusively by the Cambridge & Enfield (which you can read about here).
On Saturday 27th April, the Vegan Market Co is hosting their market at Hatfield House. Fox hunting is directly contradictory to the ethos and world view of veganism, and we’d like to ask Vegan Market Co to rethink their choice of venue – now, and until Hatfield House end their relationship with the Cambridgeshire Hunt with Enfield Chace for good.
The Hunt, along with terrier men on quad bikes, search Hatfield Park for foxes.
Trail Hunting
The Cambridgeshire Hunt with Enfield Chace tell the public that they practice ‘trail hunting’ – following the scent of a fox, laid out as a trail for hounds to follow. This is a lie.
In a leaked webinar from 2020, Phil Davies, the Countryside Alliance police liaison officer, said:
“Now you know more about hunting than the saboteurs or courts will know but what it will do is create that smokescreen or that element of doubt that we haven’t deliberately hunted a fox, so if nothing else you need to record that and it will help us provide a defence to huntsman.”
Mark Hankinson, Master of Foxhounds Association director, said:
“It’s a lot easier to create a smokescreen if you’ve got more than one trail layer operating, and that is what it’s all about, trying to portray to the people watching that you’re going about your legitimate business.”
Chief Superintendent Matthew Longman, Lead on Fox Hunting Crime for the National Police Chiefs’ Council said last year:
“The Hunting Act is not working effectively, and illegal hunting is still common practice. I know it, you know it, the public and the hunts know it… Hunts are frequently trailing hunts in natural fox habitats, with hounds trained to locate and kill foxes. So-called terrier men are frequently present with shovels and terriers, while scent trails are often not present.”
And only a week ago:
“Large swathes of communities are facing intimidation, criminal damage, pets being destroyed, all of these things we have seen and more… so the (Hunting) Act cannot be working. Trail hunting cannot be working if hounds are down busy roads in front of ambulances.”
How can you help?
We’d be incredibly grateful if concerned members of the public could contact Vegan Market Co and Hatfield House by email or by leaving your thoughts on their social media pages.
Vegan Market Co
Hatfield House