Make jokes about Sabs and soap, but all the Lush soap in the world will not wash the blood off your kids' faces or your bloodstained hands...

You may have seen that those wonderful people at Lush, the cruelty-free handmade cosmetics company, are promoting the HSA (that's us!) through their high street stores and highlighting the fact that hunts are still hunting and we are still having to sab to save animals' lives. They have produced a bubble bar called The Fabulous Mrs Fox from which all proceeds (after tax) go to the HSA. This has got under the skin of the hunters, who feel their right to be the only voice heard on the subject is being challenged and they have run themselves ragged trying to smear the HSA with unsubstantiated stories and the same old lies and myths.

We are taking the hunters' panic and Lush's staunch support as a huge compliment and using every press opportunity to remind the public that hunts are still hunting and killing our wildlife, and that they are doing it now. This has disrupted the blood junkies well oiled media plan - they don't normally admit to doing anything outside their safe zone of November to March and a bit of a photo opportunity on Boxing Day. It might even expose the fact that they have been cubhunting for the last 2-3 months which no media outlet or law enforcement agency has been bothered to investigate (as usual).

The hunters and their hangers on are now showing their true side and the bullies and thugs, spurred on by articles in Horse and Hound and press releases by the Countryside Alliance, have been involved in physical intimidation and verbal threats to the premises and staff of Lush stores around the country. One of the Countryside Alliance's mouthpiecesl, The Sunday Telegraph, had been trying to run a spoiler story for the last month but put it on ice when they realised Lush had actually done some background factfinding on the subject and the HSA and spoken to us to get our experience of the normally very one-sided debate. They have a strong history of supporting groups who actually put their money and effort where their mouths are, rather than multinational charities - we and the animals we save will always be grateful to Lush for making a stand.