In 1964 John Prestige founded the Hunt Saboteurs Association in Brixham, England, after being assigned to report on the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, where "he witnessed the hunters drive a pregnant deer into a village and kill her." Designed to "actively oppose blood sports," the HSA eschewed parliamentary reforms and instead went directly out into the fields of Britain to do everything they could, within the law, to prevent the killing of British wildlife. "Within a year, HSA groups appeared across England in Devon, Somerset, Avon, Birmingham, Hampshire and Surrey. Ronnie Lee, founder of the animal rights group Band of Mercy began his activism within an HSA group in Luton, England. HSA now operates throughout Europe and North America.