Off the Leash

A conversation between Charlie Moores and Anne, a spokesperson for the Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs.

Anne and Charlie have spoken before, in late December, shortly after a well-publicised attack on hunt protestors by followers of the notorious Avon Vale Hunt at their Boxing Day meet in the Wiltshire village of Lacock (link below). 

This time they’re talking in late March, so towards the end of the so-called fox hunting season. It’s been a tumultuous period for the various Wiltshire hunt packs and for the sabs and monitors who track their movements and are working to stop wildlife crimes taking place in the Wiltshire countryside. 

While the Avon Vale - and their support staff and protective shield of vehicles from Wiltshire Police - has now packed up until the fox cub hunting season starts in the autumn, the past six months have removed any doubt at all that illegal foxhunting is routine in Wiltshire – taking place right under the noses of local police, as well as under the noses of local Conservative MPs James Gray and Michelle Donelan, and the Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson who either haven’t commented, commented that hunting is a legal activity, or suggested that had hunt sabs not been at Lacock at Boxing Day they would have been at home making bombs…

And stepping into all of this – standing between the illegal hunts and our wildlife - are the Wiltshire Hunt Sabs. They affiliated with the HSA in their current form in time for the 2021 season – so how do they look back on their first full year of operation, and what are their plans for tackling this shameful situation in the years ahead…

• Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs Twitter feed
• Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs  Facebook page
• Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs Tip-off Line - 07562 628 187
• Donate to Wiltshire Hunt Saboteurs via PayPal
• Off the Leash Interview #14 Wiltshire Hunt Sabs 
• Off the Leash Shortcast #76 Charlie Moores | The Avon Vale Hunt and a response to Wiltshire's PCC

A short conversation between Off the Leash's Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer on Dominic's government petition calling on the UK to "Suspend trade agreement with Faroe Islands until all whale & dolphin hunts end" which of course was launched after the Faroese slaughtered an almost unbelievable 1428 Atlantic White-sided Dolphins on the 12th of September last year.

After a huge push in the last week or so the petition has now reached 100,000 signatures, which given the understandable focus on Ukraine was a massive achievement ...

• Dominic Dyer  Petition Suspend trade agreement with Faroe Islands until all whale & dolphin hunts end
• AnimalAid Petition Make the use of free-running snares illegal for trapping wildlife 
• PETA Petition  Replace the real bearskins used for the Queen’s Guard’s caps with faux fur  
• Off the Leash Podcasts  Shortcast #48 OTL | Faroes Update October

Charlie Moores talks with the founder of Keep the Ban, Rob Pownall. Launched in 2015 but ticking over until some eighteen months ago, a change in strategy, a new website, and a massively ramped up social media presence saw Keep the Ban launch numerous anti-hunt campaigns and develop investigative work alongside the renowned Hunt Investigation Team (or HIT).

As Rob explains he has some extremely interesting ideas on where he thinks Keep the Ban should go next, plans for expanding on the work he is doing already, and developing partnerships (including perhaps with Off the Leash).

Before we get to that though, Keep the Ban says on its website that “It is beyond clear that hunts are not ‘trail hunting’ as they claim. Farmers and landowners are complicit in the supply of foxes for the purpose of hunting. Foxes are still being hunted across the country on a huge scale.” 

Indeed they are, and on January 5th 2022 Keep The Ban supported the Hunt Investigation Team with their latest undercover investigation, which saw the Vale of White Horse Hunt filmed deliberately and intentionally hunting a fox.

• Keep the Ban Website
• Keep the Ban Vale of White Horse Hunt investigation  
• Keep the Ban Twitter feed 
• Hunt Investigation Team Website and Twitter feed 

Four days ago Off the Leash posted a short conversation between Charlie Moores and campaigner and Off the Leash colleague Dominic Dyer on what he'd been doing to make it easier for refugees fleeing Putin's war on Ukraine to come into the UK with their companion animals. We were very critical of the UK government on that occasion, but Dominic is back with - thankfully - better news...

•  Shortcast #77 Dominic Dyer | Ukranian Refugees and Companion Animals
• The Off the Leash Podcast 3.3  Ukraine 

" Why would you choose cruelty when you don’t have to...I don’t care what society says, I’m not participating in that."

The first part of a short series of podcasts with award-winning author and animal rights campaigner Linda Newbery talking about her recently published guide to compassionate living, ‘This Book is Cruelty-free – Animals and Us’. Written for everyone who cares ‘about our planet, our animals, and about living a better life’, This Book is Cruelty-free says in its introduction, “the decisions we make every day of our lives – what we buy, eat, use and discard – have an impact on the environment and animal life. We can choose to support cruelty and waste, or we can choose kindness and responsibility.”

In this podcast Charlie Moores talks with Linda about her motivation to write This Book is Cruelty-free, setting the scene for forthcoming episodes based on chapters from the book: Spend Kindly, What’s On Your Plate, What a Waste, Animals at Home, Protect and Protest.


NB: Off the Leash contacted Linda after buying and enjoying This Book is Cruelty-Free. We paid for it ourselves, no payments have been asked for or received for this series of podcasts, and  Off the Leash has no financial interest in the book or anything connected with it.

• Linda Newbery Website and Twitter feed
• Pavilion Books This Book is Cruelty-free - Animals and Us

A short conversation between Charlie Moores and campaigner Dominic Dyer on what he's been doing to make it easier for refugees fleeing Putin's war on Ukraine to come into the UK with their companion animals. As we discuss, Ukraine is not rabies-free, but over a week ago the Vet Times wrote that "Officials in Romania, Poland and Hungary have made exceptions to peacetime restrictions on pets crossing borders as thousands, including many with animals, flee war-torn Ukraine". In Hungary, in order to ensure a smooth entry, the national chief veterinarian has ordered the completion of a simplified registration form.

Why are we so slow to help and what can we do about it?

• Vet Times  Ukraine’s EU neighbours waive pet restrictions amid war exodus (28 Feb 2022)
• The Off the Leash Podcast 3.3  Ukraine

 In this episode of The Off the Leash Podcast, Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer discuss burnout and campaigning in a world that is both full of relentless need and is falling apart in front of us. As we say, "we’re not mental health professionals, we can’t solve anyone’s problems, but we thought that perhaps outlining our own experiences, looking at what encourages and keeps us going, might just help someone who is struggling too...".

We also look at the newly introduced Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill, which aims to tighten up loopholes left over from the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 (it almost - but not quite - succeeds). We ask how on earth mega-retailer Tesco can sanction netting to stop red-listed House Martins nesting on its North Berwick store. And we give a word of thanks to the Buff-breasted Bumblebee, that gentle giant (relatively speaking of course) of early spring.

#WeStandWithUkraine

• Off the Leash Podcasts 3.3 Ukraine
• War on Wildlife Project  Solastalgia – a quiet mourning
• OneKind  Animal charity welcomes Bill that could finally ban the ‘sport’ of fox hunting, 20 years on
• Scottish Government The Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Bill
• RSPB House Martin Added to Red List
• Change.org Stop the netting preventing House Martin’s nesting at North Berwick Tesco
• Bumblebee Conservation Trust Buff-tailed Bumblebee

A conversation between Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer about Ukraine and Russia's war.  How did we get to this disaster and what might we have learned about our humanity and our compassion for each other?

We discussed at length whether we should record this - is the world waiting for an Off the Leash statement on Ukraine? Of course not. Will a  podcast make any difference? Of course not - but we wanted to show our support for the people of Ukraine anyway, so here we are...

#WeStandWithUkraine

• Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal
• Network for Animals Ukraine Emergency Appeal

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?

Heroes and Villains, a new series of podcasts from Off the Leash with Charlie Moores and Dominic Dyer. Each week we will discuss a Hero and a Villain each.

In this episode (recorded 18 Feb 2022) we boo Emma Hopkins,  UK Ambassador to Denmark, and gun dog trainer Ian Openshaw. And we cheer conservationist Roy Dennis, and both the editor of the Jerusalem Post and its journalist Barry Davies.

What do you think of our choices? Would you have chosen differently? Let us know...