WAR is being waged in the countryside, in the fields and along the quiet lanes, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the Dorset and Somerset “territory” of the Blackmore & Sparkford Vale (BSV) hunt.

On one side are the foxes and the hunt saboteurs, on the other the masters, the huntsmen and hunt followers of various kinds.

The “sabs,” dedicated to protecting wildlife, are being targeted by people intent on disregarding the Hunting Act 2004. Their attitude is that the countryside belongs to them and they have the right to act as they please, regardless of the law. They are a powerful lobby that seems to have a stranglehold on the police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The sabs film everything, gathering evidence of laws being broken by the hunts in the hope of prosecutions. And for their own safety they film incidents of their vehicles being smashed, themselves being assaulted, badly beaten and in several cases hospitalised with their injuries. In the 1990s two sabs Mike Horne and Tom Worby were killed, yet no prosecutions followed. And now we learn that the CPS has refused yet another case on “insufficient evidence.”

The “insufficient evidence” consists of a film of a woman being deliberately galloped over by BSV huntsman Mark Doggrell. There were also several other sabs who witnessed the event. This happened during an evening cubbing meet in August near the hunt’s kennels at Charlton Horethorne.

When contacted shortly after the incident, an investigating officer said that although additional evidence was desirable, they felt they already had enough to prosecute.

A farmer who wished to remain anonymous told me that the masters of the hunt had held a meeting with Doggrell that evening and decided on the statement he should give to the police.

During the meeting they had reportedly said that they “couldn’t afford a hiccup this early in the season,” the implication being that if Doggrell was remanded in custody they would have no-one to replace him with. He was apparently briefly sacked but soon seen back in the saddle.

Doggrell claimed that that the woman had deliberately jumped in front of his horse. The video clearly shows that she did not move from where she stood, and she and her companion had their backs to the oncoming horse. Further, any horse would have done its utmost not to run over a human. But, according to witnesses, the horse also wore blinkers, which would have prevented it from seeing its rider’s target.

The woman lost consciousness shortly after being struck by the horse. She had seven broken ribs, a punctured lung and trauma to her shoulder. It was feared at the time that her spine had also been injured.

An air ambulance attended the scene, partly because riders and horses blocked the normal ambulance from accessing the injured woman.

Since this incident the Dorset Hunt Sabs have been the target of “anti-antis” — groups of violent masked men allegedly shipped in from both the South Dorset hunt area and Hampshire. They appear at any BSV hunt and attack the sabs. As they also dress mostly in black, with black balaclavas, it is easy for the hunt to tell everyone that these violent and nasty people are sabs, thus spreading the propaganda that the hunt is innocent and the sabs are criminals.

After the CPS decision not to prosecute Doggrell, the hunt sabs released the truly shocking video of the incident.

According to the Sunday Times, “Michael Felton, senior master of the BSV hunt, said the incident occurred during a legally permitted drag hunt that did not involve any live foxes being chased.”

Well sorry Mike, this was a cubbing meet (one with the aim of training young hounds to hunt) and this is rather different from drag hunting (hounds following a pre-laid trail). The BSV wouldn’t be seen dead engaged in drag hunting.

The hunts give the impression that all country folk support hunting and that it is only “incomers” who are against it. Many farmers dislike hunting but they are afraid to ban the hunts from their land because of the violence visited upon them. One farmer said: “My life wouldn’t be worth living.”

Years back, country-dwellers were attacked for supporting the Hunting Act, which would limit the worst excesses of the hunts. These hunts have continued to break the law and to injure sabs without redress. And the war against people who want to stop hunting has reached a new and more violent stage.

This situation is not helped by the CPS refusing to prosecute.

On the positive side, because of the infamous badger culls — which sabs have played an important role in disrupting — membership of the Hunt Saboteur Association has soared. More and more people are bravely standing up to defend both the law and our wildlife.