What is hunt sabotage?
Sabbing or hunt sabotage is a form of non-violent direct action to prevent the killing of nonhuman animals at the hands of hunters. Hunting is rife in rural Ireland and at a time where many species populations are in severe decline, we can no longer sit idle and watch on as hunters go out into the Irish countryside and continuously murder nonhuman animals.
Foxes, badgers, hares, deers, corvids and raptors are just some of the targets of Irish hunters. Whether it be legal hunting, "culling", or the illegal killing of nonhuman animals, it is all the same in our eyes and each will meet resistance in due time.
Sabbing tactics: common types of hunting
Disrupting a hunt involves various tactics depending on the hunt type. Important things to consider before sabbing a hunt:
Sufficient information on the hunt taking place
Having enough numbers to engage the hunt safely
A camera to record hunting or the hunts' violent behaviour
Fox hunting with hounds:
Foxhound packs and harrier packs will cover large amounts of ground on a day's hunting. Having a map is essential, while local knowledge of the area is handy. Foxhounds and harriers are dogs with high endurance, who hunt by scent. They are cast in areas of known fox populations and encouraged and directed in the chase and killing of a hunted animal. If a fox goes to ground (earth/den/badger sett/drain pipe/logs), they are often dug out by “terriermen” and thrown to the hounds. Hunters would say an "efficient" hunt can kill 4-6 nonhuman animals a day.
Tactics involve:
Masking the fox scent by spraying diluted citronella oil or other safe essential oils.
Discouraging the pack of hounds while they are on a fox scent through use of the hunting whip and calls.
Pulling a visible pack hounds off the scent of a fox: sabs use a Gizmo (a sound box containing sound of hounds howling after a fox—it attracts all the hounds to the sound) and a hunting horn. Sabs never use a horn or gizmo near a road.
Fox Dig outs:
Hunts do not like to be caught on camera digging out a fox from an earth, so recording any such activity may be enough to deter them. When a fox is marked to ground, entrances are blocked, and “terriermen” send terriers down to hold the fox. Men will use spades to expose the fox, and eventually, the fox will be pulled out and thrown to the hounds, shot, or thrown for a longer chase. A group of sabs can potentially stop this barbaric activity by sitting on the earth and essentially getting in the way of any killing.
Sabs use similar tactics when targeting a beagle/harrier pack hunting hares or rabbits, but there are many differences. Please check our “resources” section for information on sabotaging these hunts.
Sabbing a shoot:
Sabbing a fox, corvid or pheasant shoot requires putting personal safety on the top of the priorities.
Requirement and considerations include:
Wearing High visibility vests to ensure shooters see you
Approaching a shoot from behind the line of fire: It is essential for safety reasons, that sabs don't approach a line of shooters head-on
Making yourself heard while approaching the shooters, encouraging them to "break their guns" (disarming), unloading a shotgun
Snares & traps
Snaring and trapping of nonhuman mammals is common in Ireland. The badger “cull” (kill) involves the snaring and shooting of badgers. This type of hunting is a common practice by gun clubs and “game” shooting areas. In the surrounding vicinity of the bird cages, traps and snares will be in high numbers. Hunters target foxes, stoats, otters, pine marten, badgers, pine marten and minks. Hunters leave these traps and snares on familiar trails and routes used by these nonhuman mammals.
There are many other types of hunting in Ireland (legal/illegal) and should you come across any of them please seek out our advice through our various contacts.