Our visit to the Tiverton Foxhounds on Saturday contained all the familiar hallmarks of an organised wildlife crime gang: masked terriermen, intentional drawing of fox coverts, foxes and other wildlife forced to run for their lives, and riders using their horses as weapons against sabs. The only missing element was the organisation. For a hunt that’s been in the press a lot lately, following Tiverton Town Council’s decision to declare them “unwelcome” in Tiverton, one might expect at least a token effort at a smokescreen when increased scrutiny was on the cards – particularly in the lead-up to Boxing Day! But there was no pretence of trail-laying or any other ruse.
Terriermen Will Wass and Phil Morish accompanied the hunt on a fully equipped quadbike, in direct breach of the BHSA’s newly issued “terrierman ban”, circulated to all registered packs last week. When they spotted sabs, and knowing full well we’d recognise them, Wass and Morish masked-up. And that was violation number two. According to the BHSA: “To maintain a clear distinction between lawful hunting and those who conceal their identity for confrontational purposes, it is not appropriate for anyone present at or associated with a hunting day to obscure their identity.” The Tiverton, like the Eggesford and so many other hunts, are proving that the hunting world is incapable of regulating itself.
The meet was at Foxlands Farm, not far from Staple Cross, but they didn’t hunt around there. Instead, huntsman Neil Starsmore, whose recent career move involved abandoning the East Cornwall with North Cornwall huntsman Gareth Frain’s wife in tow (proving once again that loyalty is not a strong suit in the hunting world!), led the field of approximately 15 riders along the road for a while before entering land north of Stallenge Thorne Farm, drawing a few hedges and then carrying on north and west towards the Huntsham Estate. They seemed a bit undecided about whether to hunt in front of us or go for a hack and attempt to lose us first.
One particular male rider took it upon himself to try and eject our sabs from a field by repeatedly riding his horse at them. Another – resembling a version of Charles Dickens or the ghost of Christmas past – rode his horse at sabs on the road while muttering something about hijabs. We’ll let the video speak for itself (linked in comments). Horses are clearly just tools to this lot, so it came as no surprise when one of them ditched their rider halfway through the day. The riderless horse galloped past one of our vehicles and continued down the road for about a mile before eventually being stopped by a farmer on a tractor.
The hunt kept on the move but were unable to shake our sabs, who were following on foot, by vehicle and by drone all day. Starsmore repeatedly cast hounds into dense bramble patches, exactly the kind of place a fox would be lying up. As shown in our drone footage (linked in comments), hounds flushed a fox from one of these areas. However, quick intervention by sabs, rating the hounds, prevented a chase. Starsmore attempted to cast hounds into the same area again a few minutes later, but the fox was long gone by then.
Another fox went to ground a while later, during the final draw of the day. Sabs witnessed hounds running through the woods on a strong line which ended at a badger sett in the valley. Hounds were eventually moved on and sabs stayed behind to guard the sett and prevent the fox from being dug out. The hunt packed up a short while later, which is when we bumped into what we think was the tail end of an Exe Valley Buckhounds meet, also taking place at Huntsham.
Shout out to Local Independents for Tiverton for putting pressure on the Tiverton Foxhounds.
Gallery
