Challenging Sporting Rights To Save The Stags
Barnstaple, Devon, United Kingdom
Aim
Challenging archaic Sporting Rights to help protect wildlife across the UK.
HELP US PROTECT WILDLIFE BY CHALLENGING SPORTING RIGHTS
In 2023, we asked you to help us fund a legal review of stag hunting with hounds in the UK.
You responded with so much generosity. We quickly reached our target and were thrilled to be able to commission the review, which revealed a number of important findings that we’ve been using to structure our campaign ever since.
You helped us work out where the stag hunts are on the weakest legal ground.
One of the avenues we've been advised to explore are "Sporting Rights." Excitingly, positive outcomes here could protect a huge range of hunted wildlife right across the country, and not just stags in the South West.
WHAT ARE SPORTING RIGHTS AND PROPERTY COVENANTS?
When land is bought or sold in the UK, certain rights are linked to it. Mineral rights, for example, grant the holder ownership rights to underground resources such as oil, silver, or natural gas. Sporting rights give the holder the right to hunt on a piece of land.
Sporting rights are not always offered as part of the sale when land is sold, meaning you could own a piece of land that staghound (or foxhound) packs still retain the right to hunt on, even if you didn’t want them to. In light of the Hunting Act, this makes landowners uniquely vulnerable.
SPORTING RIGHTS AND PROPERTY COVENANTS
The three remaining stag hunts rely on having access to land – their hunting “country.” Without express permission of the landowner, all of the “exemptions” under which they currently hunt are instantly invalidated, making their actions illegal. If the hunt own sporting rights to a piece of land, landowners may feel as though they have no choice but to permit them access. We want to challenge this.
The land may be subject to covenants – rules that stipulate what you can and can’t do as the new owner. We believe some National Trust properties are subject to covenants made when the land was donated, stating that hunting must continue to be permitted. Again, in light of the Hunting Act, we believe these covenants could be challenged and released.
OUR CHALLENGE
Recently AAS was approached by a barrister, sympathetic with our cause. Based on our prior legal review, and their detailed knowledge of the legal system, we want to challenge the modern interpretation of these sporting rights and covenants.
Our barrister has kindly drawn up legal instructions ready for us to pass on to Chambers, with the aim of investigating how we can challenge this in light of the Hunting Act, and what evidence we would need to gather in order to do so.
No permission means no hunting. As brave monitors and sabs are increasingly out in the field recording stag hunt trespass, stags, hunts and foxes making their way onto “safe” land is a true lifesaver for hunted animals. The more land we can take away from the hunts through legal means, the more we can protect wildlife.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
We need around £3000 to pay for this legal work. It’s not a small amount of money, but reflects the fact we'll be seeking the very best, specialised legal advice. This will help us move forward and give landowners more power to ban them from their land.
CAN YOU HELP PROTECT OUR WILDLIFE?
You responded magnificently to our last crowdfunding campaign.
We don’t like asking for money when we know times are hard for many – but we’re coming to you again because we’re confident that this will be a positive, proactive and powerful next step in our fight against the last remaining stag hunts (at the same time as protecting other UK wildlife.)
OTHER WAYS TO HELP
This project successfully funded on 11th June 2024