The Hurtwood is over 2,000 acres of privately owned Common land in the Surrey Hills.
This is their mission statement : "Friends of the Hurtwood, registered charity No. 200053, has the responsibility to raise the funding required to manage public access and protect the Hurtwood environment"
Protecting the land is all very well but surely this includes the wildlife that dwell therein!!!
What we want them to do is clear and simple : -
No longer give permission for 'trail hunting' to take place on The Hurtwood in light of the guilty verdict of Mark Hankinson, the director of the Masters of the Foxhounds Association, subsequent to a thorough police investigation into webinars hosted by the Hunting Office.
Why is this important?
PLEASE ALSO READ A SERIES OF UPDATES HEREUNDER WHICH HAVE OCCURRED SINCE THE LAUNCH OF THIS PETITION.
It has recently been reported nationwide that the Hunting Office held a series of 3 webinar Zoom meetings back in August last year with over 100 Hunt Masters in attendance. From this meeting evidence was leaked that there was indeed conspiracy by hunters to commit perjury and actively flout the 2005 ban on hunting with hounds. Throughout the three hours of talks, hunts were clearly and repeatedly incited to engage in mass criminality and shown how to present a smokescreen to anyone watching.
Further to the publicised leak there is now a police and CPS investigation going ahead to ascertain all the facts from these meetings.
Given the recent media coverage focusing on the admission of senior representatives of The Hunting Office and Hunt Masters, that they use trail hunting as a 'smokescreen'. We expect that local police forces across the country will be policing hunting activities more diligently and no longer turning a blind eye to illegal activities. The police, along with the other large organisations are now keen to distance themselves from hunt groups. In addition, Hunt Saboteurs Association, have seen an increase in their membership, fuelled by public awareness that these leaked webinars have brought.
The National Trust, The Forestry Commission and now United Utilities have announced that they will be suspending all ‘trail’ hunt licences for the rest of the entire season.
Also the law states that under the Hunting Act of 2004 Section 3 (i) A person commits an offence if he knowingly permits land which belongs to him to be entered or used in the course of the commission of an offence under section 1 – Section 1 being hunting wild mammals with dogs.
Whilst the investigations are going on I call to the trustees of the Hurtwood Control that they see fit to suspend all trail hunt licences which have been issued for this current season and/or perhaps the next until the outcome of the investigation is finalised.
In view of the above we really hope now that the Trustees of The Hurtwood Control finally make the right decision and revoke any licences with haste.
How it will be delivered
email and deliver in person
