We’d heard Angie Prouse was hosting a joint meet of the Silverton and South Devon Hunts at Creedy Barton, near Crediton – a two-for-one we weren’t going to miss out on!
Two hunts means twice the number of red coats, riders, supporters and terriermen. The hosts will be keen to show off their ‘country’ and the visitors will want to impress with their hunting ability. Neither aim is aided by sabs attending to intervene in their cruel sport!
With this being an area we know very well from years of sabbing both the hunt and the badger cull, we were confident in our ability to make a difference here. On three occasions over the course of the day, when hounds were in the vicinity of known badger setts, we made a beeline for those setts and predictably found hounds marking foxes to ground there. Our presence averted digouts on each occasion, leaving about a dozen terriermen sat around on their quadbikes all day without a job to do. By mid-afternoon, the smug looks they’d greeted us with in the morning had been wiped off their faces and replaced with obscene gestures and “why don’t you just f*** off”.
We had eyes on the hunt all day. They set off east and then north towards Shobrooke Mill Farm, drawing the hedges uphill in direction of Furze and Efford, from where they carried on at speed towards Yendacott. Here we spent a while with huntsman Joe Emmett on foot as hounds were intermittently speaking. Silverton huntsman Chris Matterface and all the riders meanwhile sat in a neighbouring field. Sabs were on hand to cover the scent of foxes fleeing from the pack and rate the hounds off their line.
After hounds marked a badger sett in this area, half a dozen quadbikes arrived, hoping for an opportunity to dig. We left some sabs behind to guard the sett and eventually the terriermen left. An hour after the hunt had moved on, the landowner suddenly appeared to aggressively turf sabs off the land, obviously having been told by the hunt that sabs had spoilt their fun. He claimed he wasn’t even aware the hunt had been on his land that day and that he wasn’t anything to do with them. When the hound and hoof prints were pointed out to him, the story changed to “they’re allowed on, but only with one horse and the hounds, no quads”. He doesn’t want them trashing his fields, apparently. When sabs showed him the very obvious quadbike tracks (the horses and quads can also be seen on his land in our photos!) and explained that he’s legally complicit if he gives permission for an illegal hunt to take place on his land, he ran out of excuses. If you’re a landowner who doesn’t want the hunt trashing your fields, the first thing to do is to stop allowing the hunt onto your land…
The hunt had carried on north and headed straight for the top of Raddon Hills, where they encountered frustrated dog walkers and took over the entire public car park with their vehicles. At Broadpark Copse hounds erupted into full cry, chasing a fox east across land belonging to East Coombe Farm. The land belongs to Malcolm Huxtable, the farmer who appeared on Brian May’s documentary about bovine TB and badgers. Through tears Huxtable pleaded with Brian May to accept that his reason for wanting to cull badgers is that he believes badgers are to blame for bovine TB, and he loves his cows so much… If you’re a farmer who doesn’t want TB-spreading animals (i.e. foxhounds) crossing your land, the first thing to do is to stop allowing the hunt onto your land…
Hounds chased the fox north across the A3072 in direction of Strangaton and Higher Burrowcoombe. It took the hunt far too long to catch up and make attempts to slow the traffic as hounds zigzagged back and forth. It’s a miracle there wasn’t a collision. The hunt then slowly headed back south from Windmill Plantation, although hounds ran off well ahead of the riders again and were soon seen marking a fox to ground near East Coombe Farm. We filmed hounds running around the surrounding fields for the following twenty minutes before a single member of the hunt turned up to gather them. When huntsman Joe finally arrived to pull hounds away from the sett, he made sure to congratulate them. However, another digout was prevented by sabs arriving before the terriermen did.
The final draw of the day took place between Coombe Barton and Stockleigh Pomeroy, in and around Stockleigh Wood and Parsonage Copse. Hounds were witnessed chasing a fox and marking to ground at yet another sett. As it got dark, the two hunts slowly hacked back to the meet to pack up.
We’re now entering that part of the hunting season where heavily pregnant and (later) nursing vixen are regularly killed by hunts, leaving their cubs to starve. Our presence at setts the hounds have marked averts otherwise inevitable digouts, preventing not only the brutal killing of terrified foxes who have taken refuge there after being chased by the pack, but also protecting the badgers underground, who themselves are currently busy giving birth to and nursing their young. It takes a special kind of psychopath to enjoy taking part in this kind of cruelty.
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