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The strange case of Herts Hunt Saboteurs

Black Scott | 08.10.2013 16:01 | Animal Liberation | Policing

A look at the Herts Hunt Sab group and its campaign to stop support of the national Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA)

HSA
HSA


The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) is 50 years old and proudly declares itself the world’s longest surviving direct action organisation. It has a proud history of taking direct action against all forms of blood sports, so it was strange to see a groups calling itself Herts Hunt Sabs telling people not to support the national organisation. To those not in the know the HSA as an organisation ( http://hsa.enviroweb.org/) campaigns for and supports hunt sabotage across the country and abroad and has done since 1963, the local groups are independent and there is not even an affiliation scheme. Even so the national HSA gives no strings attached grants to these local sab groups, if requested, to the tune of many thousands of pounds each year. The HSA is run by an elected committee of twelve people, voted for at their AGM who are usually all experienced Hunt Sabs.

This year when the hunt saboteurs are dealing not only with the usual hunting season but also the badger culling, in two separate zones, the call on their resources was at an all-time high. Suddenly a new group calling itself Herts Hunt Sabs pops up claiming that the HSA does not support local groups against all current evidence.

This author has not only been a sab (saboteur) but also knows many people in the movement past and present, although I am not now an active sab I still support their actions against hunting. Concerned about these claims I started to investigate and found a murky, worrying story.
Herts hunt sabs was set-up according to their Facebook page on July 11th 2013, in itself strange to start a sab group outside the hunting season.

( https://www.facebook.com/pages/Herts-Hunt-Sabs/154557691400500?ref=br_tf)

It is run by a Lorraine Edwards who at the time of these incidents was possibly the only person in Herts hunt sabs, although there may have been one other person. A grant request was made from her to the HSA for £2,000. At this point Herts hunt Sabs (Lorraine Edwards) had only been out on one hunt on the 31st August (with another group) which had turned out to be puppy walking, so no intervention was required, she claims to have turned up in the cull zone but before the shooting had started.

My sources tell me her request was discussed by the committee of twelve experienced sabs, from all over the country, and was not turned down but deferred until December. The reason being the group was so small, new, with no experience it was requested that they join up with other groups to show their commitment before such a large sum was handed over. I questioned if this was common practice, and in cases where a grant is not clear or did not seem to be directly for hunt sabotage it was not unheard of. The HSA contacts officer contacted Lorraine Edwards informing her of the decision when the trouble started.

On 12th September comment on the Herts hunt sab Facebook page stated that they were disassociating themselves from the HSA, and they then go on to make some strange claims. To quote from their posting:

We applied to the HSA for funding for a vehicle of £2000 (enough to buy one and insure it) and gave assurances of our actions for the season and offered to sign a contract so that the HSA knew that at any point our group disbanded or we werent being active enough, the vehicle would be given back to them.

For starters buying and insuring a Sab vehicle (usually a seated transit van or land rover) would cost much more than £2,000 and most groups when trying to buy a new vehicle raise some cash themselves before asking for a grant to get the rest required. The part about signing a contract is pure fabrication and was never offered. More to the point the HSA never asks for such assurances. I checked with a couple of present and past committee members. The only thing close to this was there were sometimes assurances made that if the group in question failed the vehicle would be passed onto another sab group. There has never been anything put in writing and of course to draw up such a legally binding document would more than likely cost more then £2,000.
After these postings attempts were made to communicate with Loraine Edwards but no response was made. Comments were made defending the HSA by other group pointing out the reasonableness of their actions, and that many groups around the country had received large sums of money from the HSA, including that telling people not to support the HSA was damaging to the wider hunt sabotage movement.

On the 2nd October this was posted:

At long last we had some feedback from the HSA as to our questions on where their money is being spent and why such a large amt is being sat on..evidently that large amt of money is no longer and a purchase of 4 drones has been made which obviously will have major impacts on the monitoring of hunts, ( the first outing being a hunting festival in Cumbria in mid October) , however as much as we think this is brilliant that they are using this monitoring equipment , we dont agree with the huge amt spent and it should have allocated better, still at least after much prompting we have had a response, so hopefully that answers some of the supporters questions. Lets hope these drones are as good as they are made out to be then !!

This was in reference to a press release of the HSA stating they were going to use camera drones.
 http://hsa.enviroweb.org/index.php/news/press-releases/432-hunt-saboteurs-to-use-spies-in-the-sky-in-battle-to-save-victims-of-illegal-hunting

Once again I checked with my sources, the HSA has not blown its bank balance on drones, and although there was reluctance to say how much had been spent I was assured it was less than £1,000 and to their knowledge no official of the HSA had spoken to her about this.
The rest of the Facebook page is copies of other posts and very little of the groups independent action none of which is verifiable.

The penny then dropped. I was then told by a source who must remain nameless, that Lorraine Edwards is ex-police officer. She left the force under some cloud (it is claimed) but details are not clear.

So to sum up what do we have?

1. A respected direct action organisation run by elected activists of many years standing, at a time when it is direct opposition to a government policy to kill badgers.
2. A small very new group suddenly telling a whole movement not to support them on the grounds it did not hand over cash to them at first request.
3. The main (possibly only) person of this group is an ex-police officer.

If Lorraine Edwards is a paid police infiltrator, a self-appointed wreaker or just someone who decided to join a moment and was upset that those who had been sabs many years did not cheer, throw her a party and throw money at her I am not sure. Either way this is damaging the hunt sab movement and I expect the hunters are loving it.

I for one smell a low level operation to try and discredit the HSA when their support is at an all-time high, either by a self-important idiot or someone with connections to the authorities who would love to see hunt sab effectiveness decrease or stop altogether.

I would urge all to continue supporting the national HSA and their local hunt sabs, and until they prove themselves beyond a shadow of a doubt to avoid Herts Hunt Sabs.

Blackscott

Black Scott

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

You haven't considered ALL the possibilities

08.10.2013 21:07

"The penny then dropped. I was then told by a source who must remain nameless, that Lorraine Edwards is ex-police officer. She left the force under some cloud (it is claimed) but details are not clear...... .......If Lorraine Edwards is a paid police infiltrator, a self-appointed wreaker or just someone who decided to join a moment .........

Uh, you are perhaps forgetting the most important possibility. She might not be an EX police officer. Would your source would have access to the SECRET police files they have for their officers who are working under cover? Information released that so and so has left the police, either voluntarily or being fired, cloud or no cloud, could be bogus. Only the police undercover department and probably their internal affairs department would know for sure.

MDN


Got her funding for a car ?

09.10.2013 07:13

Could this be the same Lorraine Edwards who used gofundme.com to raise £1,000 for a car to "get into the cull zones", then having raised enough to buy a car stated that she is going to "sort the MOT/Tax/Insurance out which we hope to do with some additional fundraising after the cull has finished," ?

Seems a bit dodgy to fundraise for a car to 'get into the cull zones', then state once the car has been bought, that it's not going to be put onto the road until after the cull has finished.

 http://www.gofundme.com/4a40fo

Apache


10 years in the Met

09.10.2013 13:27

In a comment here:

 https://www.facebook.com/SupportingEmergencyServices/posts/416954795061664

Lorraine Edwards writes:

"... I can safely say that as a frontline officer for 10yrs in the Met , (left in Oct 2012 as there is more to life that that job!) ..."

This is the same Lorraine Edwards as discussed in the article:

 https://www.facebook.com/lorraine.edwards.330

No reason an ex-cop shouldn't get into animal rights direct action. Unusual though.

inks


penetrate or infiltrate?

10.10.2013 21:41

I've been ordered to 'get close to you'. Penetration and infiltration have been mentioned, but I get soooo confused. Please let me know what you prefer.
I can be a total tart for the price of a cup of tea, so long as it's stirred, not shaken.

I remain your secret admirer

mr bond


this piece is laughable

12.10.2013 22:42

This is so badly written and full of basic errors. There are FB links to her page and the group page. For starters look at the dates that things were done and the gofundme statement. It is for the cull AND sabbing, not just the cull. I have never heard of a Sab group having well over £2000 to spend on a vehicle. Most get between £1000-2000 for a vehicle with insurance and tax etc. I would love to know who your sources are too. Lorraine has commented on someone's FB posting on the HHS of this item inviting you to contact her to see all the emails and HHScontacts with the HSA which would not be available to your 'sources'. If you want to write this type of statement at least get both sides of a story. One side has written and photographic evidence open for anyone who wants to see it. The other has mysterious sources, personal opinions of people not involved and making inferences on gossip. I used to respect this site as a news source, instead I have found it has lower standards of investigation than any other UK based media outlets.

Buddha Belly


Not Badly written

22.10.2013 06:54

As a sab of 17+ years, an ex committee member and currently one of the people involved in a local group Budha Belly is wrong on a couple of things:

'Most get between £1000-2000 for a vehicle with insurance and tax etc'. Depends on the group, their location, their history, etc. 10 years ago when the organisation lived hand to mouth this may have been true but not now.

'Get both sides of the story' - I think HHS has clearly put their side of the story out there...maybe that's why someone needed to write this article. The divisive behaviour of HHS has been met with public silence from the Ctte publicly so far. Probably because they have a lot better things to do with their time but also I suspect because whatever gets said will be met with 'inaccuracies' from HHS. What's the point in getting in to this. Just provides the muppets of BBFH a moment of excitement (when they're not busy banning each other from their own page)

I have no view on Lorraine Edwards as an individual. Met her once. She wasn't a 'typical' sab but then who is these days. Personally I wouldn't want to jump out of a transit van with her. I do know that the posts she put up were extremely unhelpful at a very stressful time for those involved in the cull especially and I also know that as a lifetime member of the HSA I would be livid with a Committee that gave £2000 to a new group, with no experience, run by an ex copper, having been to one hunt. I mean really?? You think that's a good idea? The Posts on HHS after they were deferred completely vindicated the decision in the view of the vast majority of active sabs in the country.

Been doing this too long


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