“The wellbeing and care of animals has always been at the forefront of Haddon Training’s principles. We believe that all animals should be respected, well cared for, and live in environments that enable them to thrive. We take great pride in ensuring that our animal care staff all have life experience of working with animals and are passionate about educating our learners on the essential skills and knowledge they need.
Historically, Haddon Training has delivered animal care and equine groom apprenticeships into hunt yards, with the specific aim of maintaining hound and equine welfare in these settings. Our commitment was to work with the BHSA (formerly the Hunt Office) to support approximately five apprentices annually and ensure that there was education and guidance within the sector with animal welfare as the priority.
In December 2021, Educ8 Training Group acquired Haddon Training and I subsequently joined Haddon in March 2022. We reviewed our course offerings knowing that we wanted to ensure that the focus throughout Haddon Training was still very much driven by animal welfare and the education of people on this subject. The board began discussions and made a collective decision that the values within the Educ8 Training Group and Haddon Training did not align to the growing and divisive controversy across the media surrounding hunt yards. We therefore discontinued our work with the BHSA and the yards they support.
Haddon Training and all staff that work here are committed to ensuring that we continue to work closely with the BHS, BEF, and BETA and maintain the high level of compassion and respect for animals that those who have worked with us in the industry have come to expect.”