*** hounds trespass through gardens * hunt angers one of their own supporter by putting horse in danger then take the p*ss out of how he speaks ***

We received a few tip-offs this morning about different hunts and on our way to one we found out about the Croome being spotted in Dunstall, Worcs.

We found them drawing near a disused airfield and followed them to the area around Besford Court where they drew blank until they picked up on a fox by the firing range and sewage works by Tiddesley Woods. The fox ran near to one sab and another sab was inland by the sewage works, so the hunt decided not to pursue the fox into wildlife trust woods and headed north instead.

They picked up again in another area with sabs well-placed to stop the pack if necessary. Not wanting to head any foxes back towards the hounds by trying to rate them, the sab inland instead alerted sab driver to where she thought the fox had run while terrierman threatened to call the police on the sab inland*. Sure enough, hounds went streaming into nearby gardens where the scent was lost, before picking up and spilling on to the road where sab rated the pack and slowed oncoming cars.

* not sure this was the threat he thought it was – we’d love the police to witness the illegal hunting going on. It was an empty threat however

Hunt staff had done nothing but watch as hounds went through the gardens and, unsurprisingly, a resident with a dog was deeply upset when hounds and dog had a disagreement (hunt staff just looking on) and another guy came out to have a go – apparently his horse was resting with a broken collar bone and hunt had been explicitly asked not to come to the area.

What made it worse was hunt staff and supporters were heard taking the p*ss out of him, imitating his anger and how he yelled at them and laughing about him. When confronted about this by a sab, hunt supporters told her that this guy was a friend and actually comes out with the hunt. What a way to treat your friends……

Hunt staff attempted to stop discussion with sab over this by telling riders “you can’t educate poor”. Because money is all the hunt think issues can be about, not, you know, the killing of wildlife and the arrogance in doing whatever you want even when it puts others in danger.

The hunt packed up after this incident, so we’re checking badger setts around the area before heading home to review our footage.

Update including footage: The fox filmed ran past Joint master Patty Allen and whipper-in Jackie who were on point nearby. They did the right thing which was leave him alone. No holloa, or whistle (to communicate that a fox had been seen) and hounds moved away from the area. If sabs had not been out it may have been a different story.

Then it went very wrong at Ramsden. Sab inland alerted sab on the road to hounds hunting through local gardens while hunt staff merely looked on. The pack were not stopped by the huntsman Ben Dalton, but due to good communication between us, sab on the road was able to get up to a nearby T-junction as the pack spilled on to the road there. They were about to go through the garden of another dwelling when they were rated back by the sab and the area was sprayed with citronella.

A hunt member actively kept trying to force his terrier to walk where the sab was spraying even when she moved away repeatedly. The citronella dilution is not dangerous to dogs, but no one wants to be sprayed, even with water, so the behaviour of this hunt member towards his terrier, pulling her around on the road, was despicable. Sab stopped spraying due to this behaviour and the fact that she had already thoroughly covered the line of the fox.

Ben called up his hounds and looked to be about to cast them on to recover the line on the other side of the road, but a local man then came out who was very upset that they had come to the area when they were not supposed to. More importantly they had frightened a horse who was recovering from a broken collar bone – he had explicitly told them to stay away from the area because of this. To add insult to injury hunt staff and the driver of the blue 4×4 were heard taking the p*ss out of the man later as they hacked back to the horse boxes, imitating him yelling “who’s in charge” and laughing. When confronted about this childish behaviour by a sab they claimed that he was a friend and occasional rider out with the hunt! Well if that’s how you treat the people you like…