Never a dull day with the Lamerton. They met at Coombe in Lifton and set off straight into the river valley east of the meet. Hounds were hunted through woodland and dense gorse: certainly not anywhere a trail could have been laid! Sabs had been stationed on both sides of the valley for about half an hour before the hunt left the meet and there had been no sign of a trail-layer anywhere. Anyone who knows anything about scent knows that a trail laid any earlier than that would have evaporated by the time the hunt eventually appeared in the valley. And anyone who needs convincing that the Lamerton’s claims about trail-hunting are a pack of lies need only watch this footage of them killing a vixen and her cubs.
Foxes aren’t ‘accidentally’ hunted to ground, ‘accidentally’ dug out and ‘accidentally’ killed. The Lamerton’s intentions were as clear yesterday as they were when that footage was filmed a few seasons ago. Notice also how one of the terriermen in the footage took a live fox cub away in his pocket. What happened to the cub is anyone’s guess. The terriermen in that video are the same men who were out yesterday: Wayne Bartlett and Steve Mitchell.
Shortly after leaving the meet riders and hunt support were stationed at various points along the valley, ready to indicate if a fox broke from covert. A brace of hares and several deer were seen running for their lives. Huntsman David Lewis crossed the stream and headed back towards the meet with hounds on both sides of the valley. Landowner ‘Sally’ increasingly lost the plot as sabs made it clear they would remain to monitor the illegal hunting.
When one foot team eventually emerged onto the road they found two police cars waiting. The hunt had called them, claiming we were carrying weapons, an obvious and malicious lie that wasted the time of the police, who were gullible enough to believe them. Police said they would be searching everyone. When asked what they would be doing about the illegal hunting, one of the officers responded “I’m not going to answer that”. If it disgusts you that police resources are being wasted to hassle sabs and monitors rather than enforcing the Hunting Act, please make a constructive complaint via:
- Email: 101@devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk or 101@dc.police.uk
- Facebook: facebook.com/DevonAndCornwallPolice
- Twitter: @dc_police
Although held up by the police, who eventually realised they didn’t have sufficient grounds to search us, we soon caught up with the hunt as they headed under the A30 at Wortham Bridge. They drew the stream valleys between Wortham Manor and Fernhill Plantation, entered hounds into conifer woods around Higher Carley, and then headed towards Fernhill Plantation and Langstone. The landowner at Wortham Manor, believing we were ramblers, had a go at us for the ‘dog’ he’d seen running loose across his fields without a lead, until we pointed out that it was a hunt hound and he no longer seemed bothered! It never ceases to amaze us that so many landowners are unconcerned about packs of hounds running riot through their fields of sheep. When sabs tried to educate the landowner about the laws surrounding hunting and trespass he gave us the bewildering reply “dead badgers”…. Fortunately another foot team encountered a more sensible anti-hunt landowner in the area, who assured them the hunt would not be welcome on his land.
Hounds had only been heard in cry for brief periods of time until this point but they got onto a scent around Thorne Moor. Huntsman David Lewis hunted them on via narrow fox runs through thick hedges: again clearly following the path of a fox, not of any human trail-layer. Hounds briefly emerged onto the road and squeezed through another narrow run in a hedge. Sabs tried to stop them but Lewis became irate and blocked them on the road with his horse. The terriermen and various hunt support began pushing and grabbing sabs in an attempt to stop them from catching up with the hounds, who were headed in full cry on the line of a fox.
We did our best to keep up with the pack as they took south towards Thorne and then did a big loop back towards Thorne Moor. Voice calls, horn and gizmo were used to try and call them back, but our progress was slow across the boggy terrain and hounds were moving at speed. They were also hunting perilously close to the main A30 at times. Our vehicle was blocked on the road near Tor View by two hunt support vehicles so it was our turn to call the police, but by the time one police car turned up the hunt had packed up. We had stuck with the hounds until about 4pm and they packed up just as it got dark about twenty minutes later. The hunt had been in view of our sabs throughout the day and several foxes were seen to safety with the help of our trusty citronella.
Video
See our video of one of several foxes chased by the Lamerton on 9 December.
Gallery
