The Hunt Saboteurs Association, founded in Britain in 1963, was the first to confront the hunting of animals for sport, particularly fox-hunting with hounds. It is an umbrella organisation for local hunt saboteur groups around Britain, which are financially and politically independent.

It was John Prestige, a 21-year-old freelance journalist, who founded the Hunt Saboteurs Association and was its first chairman. His aim was to make hunting with hounds impossible.

Saved from death

The Association believes every animal has a right to be protected and saved from death from sporting groups, and that the only way to prevent this is by being in the hunting field and disrupting hunts without malice to the hunters. 

The idea of obstructing hunts was originally tried in 1958 by supporters of the League Against Cruel Sports, but the first action of hunt saboteurs was opposing the South Devon Fox Hunt in 1963. The hunt was called off as a result of their action – the first time a hunt had to be cancelled because of direct opposition by protesters.

Anti-bloodsports campaigners divide into those who believe in direct intervention and those who only watch the hunt to monitor and report violations of animal welfare laws. These non-interventionists use video, photography and witness statements to support prosecution of hunters who commit offences.

In Britain the interventionists (sabs) are often (but not always) members of the Hunt Saboteurs Association, while the non-interventionists are often members of the League Against Cruel Sports. Hunting with hounds became illegal in the UK in 2005, although some hunts still continue in defiance of the law.

Tactics

Saboteurs employ many tactics to disrupt a hunt, which usually involve delaying or confusing the hounds to give the fox time to get away. Techniques such as calling, blowing hunting horns, cracking whips and covering the scent of the fox with strong-smelling sprays are common.

Incidentally, this may be where the expression “red herring” comes from. Brewer's Dictionary Of Phrase And Fable says red herrings were used to confuse a hound chasing a fox, which suggests a very early group of hunt saboteurs at work. 

Today, horn blowing and calling the hounds are two of the most effective tactics to use, and can cause the splitting of the pack or the taking away of the hounds from the hunt altogether.

Sabs may also remove the blockages from fox earths (fox holes) put in by members of the hunt, or secure gates in the area, causing the hunt inconvenience and delay.

New technology

Over the years hunt sabs have become more effective, with new technology such as mobile phones helping them track hunts. Other innovations like the "Gizmo" (a tape recording of hounds "in cry") have proved highly effective in distracting a pack of hounds from the scent of a hunted animal. 

Hunts have reacted by sometimes employing private security firms or their own personnel to try to control hunt saboteurs. Sabs can be targets of abuse and in some cases physical violence from hunters and hunt followers and, equally, there have been cases of sabs attacking huntsmen.