Animal Rights campaigners from the Derby and Notts area have been campaigning to raise awareness about bloodsports, as with the approach of autumn, hunting season is upon us again.

Following the recent court conviction of one of our local hunts, the Meynell and South Staffs, the Derby Huntsabs group has launched a petition to the National Trust asking them to withdraw permission for the hunt to cross their land in the Derbyshire area. On the 9th August 2012 at Derby Magistrates Court, members of this hunt were found guilty of illegal cub hunting after video footage taken by anti-hunt campaigners on the day showed the whole hunt to be 'cubbing'. This was the abhorent and ruthless method used to train the young fox hounds to kill foxes before the Hunting Act of 2004 was introduced. The hunting community refers to this as ‘Autumn Hunting’ to disguise the true nature of what it does, which is killing innocent and helpless young cubs.

The National Trust had allowed the hunt access to their land with the understanding that they were operating in a legal manner, but as the hunt have clearly shown to be flouting the law then now is the time for the National Trust to rethink. The petition is online here so please sign and share if you can, particularly considering that the hunt have launched their own counter petition.

 http://www.thepetitionsite.com/188/084/979/ban-the-meynell-south-staffordshire-hunt-from-national-trust-land/

Local animal rights campaigners have been raising awareness of this issue with street stalls in the centre of town, asking the public to sign the petition and spread the word to other compassionate people.

Anyone interested in finding out more should visit the Hunt Saboteurs Association Website, or get in touch with their local hunt sab group.