Last week we sabbed the Eggesford at Pudson Farm on the edge of Okehampton. It was a busy day for sabs, with lots of foxes helped to safety but a sad ending for a sheep.
Just as they did on Boxing Day, the hunt started off in the valley south of Broadmoor Lane. For some reason the riders and supporters were more riled by our presence than they usually are, and some of them threw rocks at our runner sabs as they went past on the footpath.
Given their success at smashing our windscreen the previous week, they’ve obviously decided that rock-throwing is the way to go. Or perhaps they’ve entered into a competition with the kids who’ve been throwing swedes at police cars in recent weeks.
It didn’t take long for hounds to rouse a fox in the boggy valley. Luckily sabs were on hand to spray, and rate any hounds that followed, and the fox got away. Having crossed the stream, Jason now made his way west on the southern side of the valley where hounds briefly rioted on deer and then went running in cry on another line towards the western end of the valley, past a small flock of sheep who were clearly stressed. Some of the sheep looked like they might have been pregnant. Jason took hounds out to the road past the same group of sheep a few minutes later. Sabs were not far behind and witnessed one of the sheep in the group collapse in the field. Several of the hunt supporters, many of them sheep farmers themselves, witnessed this too, but just carried on following the hunt. Bear in mind these farmers are the same people who want us to believe that foxhunting isn’t a sick bloodsport after all: it’s all about protecting their darling sheep from those aggressive foxes!
The sheep was lying on the ground, breathing rapidly with her eyes squinted shut. We rang vets and rescue contacts to ask for advice and some sabs stayed nearby for half an hour to see if she came round, in which time she did manage to stand up again. We alerted local residents and some of the more friendly farmers in the area and decided to check on her again later in the day. Very sadly we went back at the end of the day after the hunt decided to draw that same valley again, and we found her collapsed once more. Sabs kept their distance so as not to stress her, but sadly as we were ringing around trying to get some help for her she passed away. Wildlife, hounds and horses are not the only victims of fox hunting.
After Broadmoor Lane the hunt moved on to Place Cross and began drawing the small stream valleys between there and Hughslade Farm. Several foxes were seen running from hounds, one making a narrow escape under a tiny run through a hedge, where hounds were unable to follow. Another went to ground at a badger sett. Sabs were close by and witnessed hounds mark the sett and Jason blow ‘gone to ground’. Terriermen and a landowner arrived and a standoff ensued. The landowner demanded that sabs leave but sabs stood their ground and reminded him it was a criminal offence to dig an active badger sett. He admitted to knowing it was a sett and told us he’d been killing those badgers during the cull in the autumn. The terriermen stayed behind and so did our sabs.
Meanwhile, sabs were checking on the movements of another terrierman nearby when Jason entered hounds into a stream valley off Bowerland Road. Before long, hounds were chasing a fox in full cry up towards the busy road. The fox doubled-back into the valley and across a stream in full view of riders and huntsman, who hunted the hounds onto the fox. Sabs ran to the location where the fox had crossed the stream to spray the scent and rate the hounds, while another team intercepted the pack in the field to the north. A really close call for this fox.
The hunt moved off in the direction of Dry Lane and crossed over into the river valley near Hilltown Farm. Several foxes were seen running in different directions and hounds became split up and down the valley causing total havoc. While Jason got into an altercation with a local landowner who had explicitly told the hunt not to come onto his land, sabs used horn and voicecalls to good effect to gather up some of the rioters at opposite ends of the valley. One very tired-looking fox with her tongue hanging out of her mouth made a lucky escape out of the valley and sabs were on hand to cover her scent.
With the landowner left to patrol his boundaries, an arrogant Jason Marles carried on totally unphased. Hunt riders also weren’t much help and were more interested in pointing out the directions that foxes were running than preventing the hounds from causing further havoc. The next several hours consisted of Jason, now on foot, making a very half-arsed attempt to gather up the pack, which had become split across about a mile of countryside. Some were running across the Ashbury Golf Course while others went off hunting on their own in small groups to the north.
With an incomplete pack, Jason eventually headed back in direction of the meet and drew the valley with the sheep once more, before finishing the day in the small stream valley near the meet. Here hounds marked another fox to ground in a badger sett. Jason blew ‘gone to ground’, sabs arrived and the hunt moved off towards the meet, where they packed up. By now it was getting dark and while Jason and the rest of the hunt debriefed on a great day of menacing every animal in the countryside, some sabs guarded the badger sett, some went back to the check on the sheep and others gathered up loose hounds that were running dangerously into traffic on Narrations Road.
To all those landowners who have to put up with trouble from the hunt, we suggest you make contact with Hounds Off, who can provide support and advice to keep them away: http://www.houndsoff.co.uk