On Boxing Day we sabbed the Eggesford Hunt’s traditional meet on the edge of Okehampton.
One of their quadbike riders ran down a sab that day, injuring his leg:
In response to the video showing the incident, the British Hound Sports Association (a PR rebrand of the Hunting Office following the smokescreen webinar scandal) put out a hurried statement claiming the hunt were unaware of the incident until we publicised it on social media (a blatant lie) and “investigations are now underway. We are, however, aware that false allegations have been made in the past in an attempt to slur the reputation of the hunt and hunting.”
In other words, when you can’t defend it, deny it ever happened and point the finger at the victim. Gaslighting at its finest.
It’s worth just taking stock for a minute. Eggesford are the hunt:
- whose terriermen were convicted for attempting to dig a fox out of a badger sett (1) after one of them already had a caution for an identical offence a few years earlier (2)
- whose huntsman attacked one of our sabs, resulting in her being airlifted to hospital, an incident for which he was convicted (3) and only acquitted on appeal after the judge said he had been charged with the wrong offence
- whose supporters were forced to pay to replace our Land Rover tyres after they were slashed during a hunt meet (4)
- and who welcome convicted sex offender Jason Kiddle within their ranks, even after he himself was filmed admitting that the hunt chase and kill foxes and dig-out badgers (5).
Add to that the many documented kills and dig-outs you can see in the videos we have shared on our page in recent years.
A longer video follows one of our foot sab teams in the lead-up to the quadbike attack on Boxing Day and clearly shows the quad stationed at the top of the field with several other members of the hunt, who all witnessed the incident. One of the other quadbike followers, Martin Tucker, himself engaged in his share of dangerous quadbike driving. The video also shows a rather bizarre encounter with Jason Kiddle shortly after the incident:
As to the rest of the day: With several vehicles and a large team of sabs we kept tabs on the hunt throughout and intervened whenever a fox’s life was at risk. The hunt started the day in the valley off Broadmoor Lane, before heading towards Pudson Farm and then back via Broadmoor Lane across a busy road towards Place Plantations and west towards Hughslade Farm, where a fox was marked to ground at a badger sett. Some sabs guarded the sett all day, preventing a dig-out. The hunt then drew the valleys between Narraton Farm, Ellmead and Eastington, before finishing the day back on the Pudson side and in the Broadmoor Lane valley and then boxing up at Oaklands. Several foxes were seen to safety by sabs but we put up with threatening and violent behaviour from numerous hunt members. This included Jason Marles himself, who hit one of our sabs over the head with the end of his riding crop.
Our injured sab’s leg was x-rayed at hospital but fortunately there were no broken bones. He is recovering from the incident and undeterred. That’s one lesson this hunt never seem to learn: violence, whether it’s towards humans or other animals, only guarantees you many return visits from us. Eggesford had another visit from us on Friday – report to follow.
1 – https://www.huntsabs.org.uk/eggesford-fox-hunt-staff-convicted/
2 – https://www.facebook.com/devoncountyhuntsaboteurs/videos/1445845815523782
3 – https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/saboteurs-delight-huntmaster-convicted-hitting-3066514
4 – https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/sabs-say-video-shows-huntsmen-2637006
5 – https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=465270390831813