This Saturday we were joined by friends from Plymouth & West Devon Hunt Sabs to sab the Eggesford at their “traditional” meet at the Hatherleigh Carnival.
The carnival secretary spoke to sabs in the town centre, insisting that hunting isn’t banned and that “the Government” had given them (the Eggesford) permission to hunt. A baffling lie to justify having illegal bloodsports kick off the Carnival. Stay tuned for footage of our impromptu interview with her.
The hunt began on Hatherleigh Moor, just like last year, dragging a deer hide around for all of 5 minutes until they got far enough away from the village to give up even that flimsy pretence.
They couldn’t help themselves from doing their usual nonsense though, with quad bikes driving at sabs, ramming our vehicles and smashing the wing mirror of our Land Rover. One young quad bike rider had a collie tied onto the back of his quad with a piece of string. Considering the speed he was zooming up and down the A-roads, ramming our vehicles, overtaking and braking directly in front of us to try and stage an accident, and swerving deliberately into sabs, it’s a miracle the poor dog survived the day.
The hunt rode south through the Moor to Broomford Manor where they spent the most part of the day, hunting the valley south of the manor towards Teachmore Farm. Hounds were in cry multiple times, with sabs following closely. They eventually crossed the road towards East Risdon where huntsman Jason Marles, looking a bit worse for wear sporting a gash on his cheek, half-heartedly cast his hounds into the woods and hedges before turning tail and heading back to Broomford Manor, casting his hounds but not picking up on much in the warm weather.
Marles then went to North Piend to send his hounds through a patch of long grass. They thankfully didn’t pick up any foxes, but bolted four deer and half a dozen pheasants. Meanwhile a group of local idiots screamed at our vehicle. After drawing a blank in North Piend the remnants of the Eggesford Hunt (3 riders and half a dozen teenagers on quad bikes) cut across Cadham Moor and back towards Broomford Manor where hounds got on to the scent of a fox immediately, pursuing it to Westdown. Contrary to what another carnival-goer told us earlier that morning, the foxes chased by hounds are not just the old and the sick (not that that would make it any less cruel!). This was a beautiful, healthy-looking fox in the prime of their life, but looking terrified and utterly exhausted by the end of the chase. Thankfully sabs were well-positioned to rate hounds, cover scent and help that fox to safety.
Jason meanwhile having lost control of his pack struggled to gather them. After about 20 minutes of calling, with about two-thirds of his pack he gave up, leaving hounds to fend for themselves and hacked back to the meet across Hatherleigh Moor, half-heartedly drawing some patches of scrub. With sabs close by, as we had been all day, rating hounds and sending them back, he achieved nothing and ran back to pack up at Reed Farm on the edge of Hatherleigh.
If not for us, the Hatherleigh Carnival would have started with foxes being ripped to shreds for a bunch of baying thugs. Tradition is no excuse for animal abuse. Stay tuned for our rather enlightening interview with the carnival secretary and let the Hatherleigh Carnival organisers know if you think this tradition needs to die.
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