Eggesford Hunt at Higher Densham, two dig-outs, 20.1.2018

We were due to pay the Eggesford a visit, and we’re so glad we did yesterday, as we saved two foxes hunted to ground in badger setts. See our footage of the second dig-out.

The hunt met at Higher Densham in Black Dog. Within seconds of leaving the meet into the river valley to the south, hounds were in full cry. One of our foot teams was ideally positioned to intercept them as they scrambled through a thick hedge on the line of a fox. Hounds then ran a full circle before huntsman Jason Marles caught up with them again, by which time the pack was split across a half mile stretch between Higher Menchinedown and Woolfardisworthy. While Marles was busy trying to get his pack back together, some groups of hounds could be heard speaking and one of our vehicles witnessed a fox run across the road not far from them. Sabs covered her scent with citronella and she got away.

At this point two 4x4s carrying a group of rent-a-thugs arrived in the area. Eight masked individuals, including disgraced former Taunton Vale Foxhounds terrier man Paul Martin, got out of their vehicles, surrounded our Land Rover and began barging into and threatening our foot sabs. One of them brandished a wooden pole as a weapon. We called the police, who arrived a little while later to find the group of thugs still following us. Police didn’t search them or their vehicles for weapons and merely asked the thugs to reverse back up the road, although we explained that the moment police left they would be back to their previous behaviour.

Fortunately, although it’s clear they’d been called in by someone from the hunt, it turned out some of the Eggesford hunt officials also didn’t want the thugs there! Hunt chairman Trerise asked to “have a word” with some of our foot sabs, wanted to know if we knew where the trouble-makers were and assured us they weren’t welcome. We told him the police had been called because of the thugs and his response was “good!” Sure enough, we didn’t see the thugs again. At least the Eggesford have learnt one lesson from last season, although Trerise might want to have words with the rest of the hunt about why they were called in the first place!

Huntsman and hounds were soon spotted milling around on the edge of a small woodland near Washford Pyne, along with five terrier quad bikes. Some of the riders on an adjacent road shouted to the huntsman to “get out of there, move on” as sabs got close, and Marles legged it across a field with his hounds. Sabs arrived to find an active badger sett with clear signs that hounds had marked a fox to ground (footage to follow). The terrier men left in dribs and drabs but one of them was reluctant to leave and had to be told by one of the others to “just leave it”. Not taking any chances, sabs stuck around at the sett and sure enough a few minutes later a terrier came out of one of the holes wearing a tracking collar around her neck, which they use to detect the terrier’s (and hence the fox’s) location underground. This is how little they care for their dogs. They will abandon them down a badger sett and simply leave them there! Sabs carried the terrier out to the police but were intercepted by one of the quad bikes who took her back.

Police were shown footage of the attempted dig out and disruption of the badger sett, but their response was the usual “we’ll have to deal with it in slow time”. Recently Devon & Cornwall Police were complaining publicly that they can’t act on hunt-related crime if it isn’t reported to them. In our response to the police’s statement this week we explained that we report every single incident, we are faced with reluctance, disinterest and inaction, and that this inaction only encourages further hunt crime. As you will read below, this is exactly the pattern that was followed yesterday. What more do the police want from us? Even though they were shown clear footage of offences under the Hunting Act and the Protection of Badgers Act with easily-identifiable culprits, who at this stage were only around the corner, the police didn’t speak to the offenders and the hunt was allowed to continue breaking the law…

… which they did! After losing the hunt for some time, we again spotted huntsman, hounds and terrier men milling around another badger sett, a few miles away near Cann’s Mill. In a repeat of earlier events, huntsman, hounds and terrier men legged it back to the road and sabs arrived to find a terrier down a hole and two terrier men digging into the sett. They are visiting terrier men from Yorkshire and our colleagues from up country have helped us ID them. Their answer for why they do what they was “cos we’re born into it”. One of them told us his dad had thrown him down a badger hole when he was five years old and he’s been digging ever since. The terrier men had blocked all of the entrances of the sett bar one, dug down into and destroyed a chamber, and their terrier, which they were dragging out by its back legs, was latched onto the fox that the Eggesford hunt had just run to ground.

If sabs hadn’t arrived when they did, that fox would have been killed.

The terrier men left as soon as they retrieved their terrier, which had nasty bite wounds on his face and shoulders. It’s not just the fox that suffers in this situation. We often see terriers with their faces torn to shreds, hounds with broken limbs and horses sustaining serious injuries because they are forced to ride too fast, jump too high or carry too much weight!

Sabs stuck around at the sett in the hope of seeing the fox so they could ascertain her condition. With darkness falling, the fox made a break for it only a few minutes later, turning to look at sabs as she slipped away into the woods. It’s fair to say we were all pretty emotional at the sight of this beautiful animal that had been so close to being killed by hounds. The sett was clearly in active use by badgers and knowing they were trapped underground, we set about trying to reverse some of the damage the terrier men had done.

We will be providing footage and statements re all the offences committed yesterday to Devon & Cornwall Police, just as we do every week. We look forward to their explanation why despite being shown clear evidence of illegal bloodsports they yet again failed to act, allowing further offences to be committed which we will now also have to report. We will post all the footage so you can see for yourselves how blatantly the hunt break the law.

No Justice. Just Us.

[See this report on Facebook]