Hit report 15/1/22
MORE WILDLIFE SAVED FROM THE RECKLESS FLINT AND DENBIGH HUNT.
The Flint and Denbigh hunt met once again near their kennels in Cefn Meiriadog, more proof they have very few areas left to hunt. Maybe a change of name to the Cefn and Trefnant fox hunt would be more appropriate. It appeared to be some sort of big event for the hunt with more riders than usual and some unfamiliar hunt supporters. Following last Saturdays absolute disregard for the law when they blatantly hunted numerous foxes, which is now a police matter, would the hunt actually behave themselves this week with extra people watching on?…… Short answer “NO” they continued to blatantly hunt right in front of us.
The hunt left the meet point around 11am without their smokescreen trail layers and took an unusual route through Wigfair Estate moving at a fast pace. They headed through the estate and through Coed Llwyd which is directly behind the hunts kennels, then back onto the road and Bryn Cefn woods. With the hunt moving at pace sabs jumped back in the sab wagon and tried to get ahead of the hunt. A new tactic of the hunt on the day was to use Nige Cox and Dave Shepherd on their bikes to swerve in front of our vehicle and attempt to hold us up. The field riders had been spotted emerging from the other end the woods but no sign of the huntsman or hounds. But then we hear the hounds pick up on the scent of a fox to our left down towards the river Elwy. Sabs jumped out the vehicle and could see the fox fleeing in our direction back towards the road with hounds in cry not far behind. We waited for the fox the run across the road in front of us before we sprayed the area with citronella, stood on the road in a line using the sounds of whips cracking and shouting “LEAVE IT!” to stop the hounds in their tracks, not a single hound crossed the road to get onto the line of the fox! By now a farmer had come out his house and wasn’t pleased at all with the hunt running through his field of sheep. He closed the gate and told us the hunt weren’t welcome on his land. Bizarrely Dave Shepherd started to film us, why on earth he’d want video evidence of sabs saving foxes we don’t know, maybe he can pass it to the police to help them with their investigation. The hunt supporters were getting a bit angry now that they hadn’t seen a fox getting ripped to bits, and Cox who to be fair had been a little more chill so far this season from his sab vehicle shooting days https://www.wildlifeguardian.co.uk/hunting/hunt-convictions/ had become aggressive, offering one of our team a fight. The police were on scene now, and when asked if they could pack the hunt up considering we have video evidence they are out illegally hunting, the police said they would have to ask a Sgt or Inspector…. we didn’t see the police again for another 2 hours until the hunt were packing up.
We’d now been joined by Derby Hunt Saboteurs and we had the hunt surrounded but they didn’t seem to care and continued to blatantly hunt. The hunt headed over Bryn Meiriadog where they had 4 terrier men on 2 quads, and then towards Coed Penwyn where they stopped for drinks, which is the highlight of Pats week. The hunt set off again along Wigfair Road and into the fields at Glascoed fawr cottage and headed towards Tyn y Coed Rough. Then back onto the road and into Coed yr Esgob. Now the hunt were really determined to kill a fox…. The hounds picked up on another scent and went into cry with deer fleeing the woods. Sabs used prerecorded horn calls to create confusion and try keep the hounds from hunting, Rob Medcalf the huntsman making no attempt to stop the hounds from following the scent of a fox. As the hounds entered the field again they were sniffing the ground to try pick up on the fox, and again Medcalf just let them. The hunt went back onto the road and crossed onto the opposite side, exactly where they’d just come from. As they attempted to hunt Goedfron and square Covert deer were flushed again, and Medcalf had lost complete control of his pack with hounds running in all different directions. The huntsman then once again headed back in to Coed yr Esgob to try get onto the fox scent they’d picked up on just minutes before. We situated ourselves on all sides of the woods to have a better chance of witnessing which way they’d flush any foxes, as the huntsman took the hounds to the North West end of the woods towards the power station the hounds had disturbed a bird that was resting up in the overgrowth, the bird fled for its life crashing into trees in doing so and appeared to not be able to fly. We did return for the bird minutes later after the hunt had packed and found the bird looking in a bad way, the bird was identified as a common snipe which are on the redlist. The common snipe was taken to a vet to look over and the vet confirmed there were no apparent breaks but two puncture wounds under the wing. With the vets permission we took the bird to a rehabber, and we’ve received an update the bird is doing well and will be released when better. The terrier men who’d tried to stay out our way all day had now joined the huntsman as he made one last attempt to find that fox in Coed Yr Esgob then Coed y Saeson… but Medcalfs luck wasn’t in today and they headed back to the kennels.
Thanks for all your support, this is our new donations link https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-for-the-sabbing-season?sharetype=teams&member=16556241&pc=fb_co_campmgmt_m&rcid=r01-164176372607-089ff354f02b4518&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_lico%2Bshare-sheet
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