What to do if the sabs appear
If confronted by protesters on a shoot day, what should you do? Philip Reynolds explains
The shooting season is now in full swing and no doubt many of you will already have enjoyed a day in the field. For the majority, these will be happy days that provide fond memories. However, the spectre of shooting’s opponents disrupting your day is ever present. The risk might be minimal but, nevertheless, all shoots and Guns should be well-versed in what to do should it happen.
In this digital age, many opponents of shooting vent their spleen via smart phone or keyboard. However, for the more committed anti the prize of disrupting a shoot and ‘a bunch of toffs killing for fun’ is worth the effort of venturing outside.
BASC, the Countryside Alliance and the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation (NGO) have all produced guidelines on what to do if confronted with antis, and how to prepare. First and foremost, it is important to remember that what you are doing is a legal activity. No matter how its opponents try to portray it or take the moral high ground, it is not you who is breaking the law. Trespass is a civil offence and, as such, it is up to the landowner on whose land there has been an incursion to decide on what action to take. However, on private land trespass becomes a criminal offence of aggravated trespass the moment somebody tries to prevent another person pursuing a lawful activity. As the aim of most antis is to disrupt a shoot or cause it to be abandoned, they are likely to be committing a criminal offence in England and Wales under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. (We will address the law in Scotland and Northern Ireland in another issue.)
Duncan Thomas, northern director for BASC, is a keen shooter and also a former
police officer and was the wildlife crime officer for the Lancashire force for seven years. He advises shoots to develop a relationship with the local rural crime officer, which could “save a lot of time and hassle”. He says most shoots declare their days to the local force but, intriguingly, this information may not always be secure. “There are many people involved in the peripherals of shoot days who don’t agree with shooting.”
Urban force
The role of the police, and the backgrounds of officers, is something Peter Theobald, pigeon shooter and Sporting Gun contributor, says has changed. Peter hails from Essex and his shooting permissions are on farms bordering Southend. He says: “The problem is we are shooting near urban areas and they are urban policemen.” He says that they often don’t understand the legalities of what he is doing and, as such, he and his shooting partner always try to inform the police if they are shooting near a footpath or settlement, and they always carry their firearms licences with them. He says the strictures of the coronavirus rules has seen more people walking in the countryside and, consequently, more calls to the police. He says that a lot of people just “don’t understand the countryside” and what, out of necessity, goes on there. “People do not agree with any organised pest control.”
When Peter encounters people who object he leaves his gun in the hide and walks out to meet them to try to explain. But, he says, the police “will try to put pressure on us to stop if a lot of people complain”.
The demographic of the people he has encountered compared with some of the more committed antis who turn up to either monitor or disrupt shoots is marked. Even then, as Duncan Thomas says, there is a distinction between “your hardcore individual who wants to protest against anything traditional through to the person who has nothing else to do that day”, what Adam Cope, gamekeeper and Sporting Gun contributor, calls “the weekend rent-a-mob”.
Adam, who runs three shoots in Lincolnshire and Rutland, says he has only had one close encounter with an anti in the field in recent years. “A woman burst in at the end of a drive and abused and swore at me. I told her my name was John Wayne.”
Joking aside, he says that before each shoot day he briefs the Guns on what to do if they get an invasion of protesters. The advice is simple: unload your guns, slip them and walk back to your vehicles.
This advice is echoed by Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, who stresses that you must not react to provocation: “The best outcome in every situation is that you walk away smiling. There will be frustration but the countryside will still be there and there will be another day. Nothing annoys the sabs more. I have seen them walking away furious if they don’t get a reaction. Don’t give them what they want.”
And Duncan Thomas again: “No shoot day is worth your shotgun certificate.”
Such incidents can be unnerving. The sabs may be garbed in black and have their faces covered with a mask, something they can be required to remove by police under the Policing and Crime Act 2017. They will almost certainly be filming with a view to posting footage on social media. And they can be unpleasant. Duncan Thomas says that these people can be “bullies and tend to work in groups”.
Sometimes things are more sinister. A group of four masked people attacked Adam Cope’s 75-year-old father on his way home from the pub before fleeing, leaving a copy of the anti-bloodsports magazine Howl behind. There have also been instances of intimidation of young gamekeepers in the Peak District over the past year.
On shoots themselves there have been fewer reported incidents, other than the usual activity on or around 12 August. Liam Bell, chairman of the NGO, says that in reality there are few incidents with sabs.
Tim Bonner takes up the mantle: “You need to remember that there are a very small number of people [involved in sab activity]… A few hundred.” He said that shooting remains a lower priority for sab activity than hunting and that the badger cull and other activities means their resources are spread thinly. He did say, however, that shooting was more vulnerable to being stopped by sab activity, something that would cost Adam Cope dearly. He oversees 40 shoot days a season and there is no slack in the system to rearrange, so if a day is lost, that’s it.
Jim Barrington is a welfare consultant to the Countryside Alliance but between 1988 and 1995 he was executive director for the League Against Cruel Sports. Discussions with Sir Roger Scruton, the philosopher, helped Mr Barrington over time to see the other side of the argument. He says the ire of the antis is more aimed at the people who take part in shooting, people regarded as having status and money, rather than having animal welfare at heart. “Antis are very good at telling us what they dislike, not so good at telling us what should take its place.” With regard to biodiversity and animal welfare, he says that if shooting were to go there would be consequences, and to the detriment of wildlife.
However, he adds, the field is not the place for a detailed discussion. Walk away. There’s always the next time.
“The field is not the place for a discussion. Walk away…”