On this day, 18th April 2011, the A.L.F. in Ireland glued a hunter’s car locks and left message “hunting = murder. ALF”
#HuntingIsHistory is a new series we are doing that explores Ireland’s Anti-Hunting past from illegal direct action to legal protests and legislative change. Where we reflect, explore, and pay respect to the work that came before the founding of Hunt Saboteurs Ireland in late 2019.
On this day, 18th April 2011, Bite Back received an anonymous Animal Liberation Front report from the Republic of Ireland which read:
"R.I.S.E.* supporter car got locks glued and message left: HUNTING = MURDER. WE ARE WATCHING. A.L.F.
*Rural Ireland Says Enough: A bunch of hunters protesting against different hunting bans"
(No photo was included)
What was RISE?
Rural Ireland Says Enough! (RISE!) was an aggressively hunt-funded lobbying group in an attempt to slow, stop and then repeal the oncoming bill to ban stag hunting (with more than two hounds), among other things such as the Dog Breeding Establishments Bill 2009. The ban (and dog breeding bill) passed in the Dáil and came into effect slamming the only stag-hound pack in Ireland; the infamous & callous Ward Union.
RISE! was unsuccessful in having any meaningful political sway even with alleged support from Fine Gael, and fizzled out in the early 2010s after their failure to revert the legislation. FELL might suit them better now. Protesting wouldn’t have been their strong suit as the aim wasn’t to kill anyone, which might explain why they struggled to keep up, even with big donors behind them.
Photo of a RISE! rally at the ‘Irish Game and Country Fair’, at Birr Castle on Sunday 26th August 2012. Their last action.
Here can be seen many of the groups who funded and supported RISE from the NARGC, the Irish Coursing Club, the Woodstown Harriers, the IFHA, the Masters of Beagles Association, and while they are not shown in this photo RISE’s assumed most generous donor, The Ward Union Hunt.
How did the ban happen?
The then Association of Hunt Saboteurs [Ireland] (AOHS) rallied, protested, monitored and sabotaged various hunts in the Leinster region during this time. As well as ardent pressure campaigning from the Irish Council Against Blood Sports (ICABS) and John Fitzgerald’s Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports (CACS). There was also campaigns from the National Animal Rights Association and a few independent protests against hunters leading up to the ban on stag hunting with hounds.
The then coalition between the Green Party and Fianne Fáil won the vote by 73 to 69 on the Wildlife (Amendment) Bill to ban stag hunting with hounds. According to the Irish Times on Wednesday, 30th June, 2010: “Members of RISE! packed the gallery for the debate and watched as Fine Gael chief whip Paul Kehoe called for a walk-through vote, whereby TDs have to pass through the ‘Tá’ and ‘Níl’ lobbies, after the electronic vote. [...] the result was 75 votes to 71.” (source)
Green Party TD Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid-West) said the Ward Union hunt would continue. “They will either release the deer earlier and bring [them] back into captivity without being stressed out by a pack of hounds, and then have the scent . . . or else they’ll learn how to drag hunt. I would bet money on it,” he said.
In the Meath Chronicle over a year later in December 2011: “Bernie Wright, spokesperson for AOHS, claimed its members have evidence that stag hunting is continuing and that the ban is not being properly enforced. She said they were continuing to monitor hunts, but it is almost impossible to follow a stag hunt closely as they usually begin on private land and are fast and unpredictable. Ms Wright claimed that sometimes an outlier - a deer left out from previous hunting days - is hunted and other times a stag is carried to the release area.” (source)
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The Ward Union is still hunting to this day, and much like fox hunts in the UK, are likely using loopholes in the legislation to hunt and torture stags, even though they deny such accusations.
Content warning for the following video, extreme cruelty and violence towards a stag in Leinster in 1999.
Stag hunting in 1999 by the Ward Union. Viewer discretion is advised.
Dozens of ALF actions took place leading up to the ban and are catalogued on the Animal Liberation Front Supporter Group website here.
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HSI is a legal, grassroots level organisation that operates within Irish law. Information on this website and all associated HSI mediums are for legal protest and information only. It should not be used to commit any criminal acts or harassment. HSI is not directly affiliated to any other animal rights group. HSI has no links or involvement with the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) or the Animal Rights Militia (ARM). Any articles published on this website relating to illegal activities are posted for the sole reason of publishing news (or in this case history) related to animal rights and are not intended to incite or encourage similar acts.