On Friday morning we paid a visit to the Eggesford Hunt who met at Coldridge Barton for another morning of killing fox cubs.
Sabs snuck up on the hunt who started the morning drawing a kale field near the meet. Foxes will often lie up in kale fields as it disguises their scent, but it is difficult for them to outrun hounds through kale so there is a high chance of them being chopped (killed without a chase), so this was a dangerous start to the day.
Hunt support were seen sending straggling hounds back into the kale field, clearly hoping that they would pick up on a scent. When huntsman Jason Marles realised that sabs were watching, he quickly gathered his hounds and took them on a merry walk through fields of terrified cows and along the roads around the meet. Sabs kept a close watch but he was clearly very keen to avoid being seen illegally hunting fox cubs, and he returned to the meet to pack up after an hour.
We knew that Jason and the Eggesford support couldn’t do without their fix of wildlife killing for the day and that they would be back in the afternoon, so we decided to surprise them.
In an attempt to give sabs the slip, Jason unboxed the hounds away from the meet and immediately started hunting them through the valley at Lower Park. Sabs were quick to catch up and intervene despite the feeble efforts of Jessica Trerise and other supporters who attempted to blockade sabs with their horses. They should know by now that it takes more than that to keep us from getting between hounds and the hunted fox.
As sabs caught up to hounds one supporter tried to convince us that hunting foxes is still legal. We aren’t sure where he’s been for the last 15 years…
As hounds drew a copse east of Park Wood, Jason could be heard tongue rolling, which is a noise he makes to encourage a fox to break from covert and serves no purpose on a trail hunt. Thankfully there were no foxes to be found and the hunt moved on. Support surrounded the next copse, which is typical during cubbing, as the intention is to immediately send any foxes back to the jaws of hounds, rather than for the fox to give chase. The hunt want the young and inexperienced hounds to develop a taste for blood before the main season starts.
A fox broke from the copse and the hounds gave chase. Sabs were hot on their tail and rated hounds back as they were piling through a hedge so impenetrable there is no way a trail could have been laid through it. Frustrated at sabs’ intervention Jason dismounted and followed hounds, hunting them on with his hunting horn. Sab teams had hounds surrounded and two foxes were seen breaking simultaneously in opposite directions. Thanks to the quick intervention of sabs, spraying citronella to cover the scent and sending hounds back to Jason, these two got away.
After terrierman Seward Folland told sabs that “we’re exempt from everything in the countryside”, Jason took hounds to attempt to hunt yet more foxes through a maize field. One broke from the maize and was seen to safety by sabs before the hunt moved on to Park Wood, but the rain drew in and the hunt packed up at Park Mill Bridge after just two hours of hunting – but not before Jason embarrassingly lost control of his horse in front of a field full of support.
In a distressing end to the day, we returned to check on a down cow we had seen in the morning at Clotworthy Farm. She was struggling to breathe and her back legs were chained together (to prevent her from doing the splits due to exhaustion and over-milking), and her symptoms had only worsened by the evening. We had notified a farm worker who appeared to have done nothing since the morning other than dump some hay next to her. We found the farmer, Richard Daw, in the evening and urged him to call a vet for her. Instead, he got in his tractor, hoisted her up by her hips, and dragged her with her face trailing 50 metres through the mud and rocks before dumping her in the “dung shed”. Her face was already covered in scratches so this was evidently not the first time this had been done to her. Video footage to follow.
The animal abuse in the countryside is endless.
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