Yet ANOTHER fox hunt lost control of its hounds – with dangerous consequences

Yet another pack of fox hunting hounds have been allowed to run amok through a rural village – all thanks to their owners’ inability to control them.

More fox hunt hounds on the rampage

Out of control hounds from a fox hunt have been caught on camera running amok through an idyllic Cotswold village popular with tourists.

The Heythrop Hunt hounds were seen on Friday morning [October 18] rampaging through Bourton-on-the-Water – known as the Venice of the Cotswolds – after the hunt lost control of them in open countryside earlier in the day:

The hounds navigated busy roads, jumped over garden fences and ran down private estate roads before they eventually managed to get them back under control:

The incident has been reported to Gloucestershire police.

John Petrie, senior campaigns manager for the League Against Cruel Sports, said:

It’s evident that the hounds were out of control, in all likelihood after picking up the trail of a fox.

Hunts claim they follow pre-laid trails, but that’s clearly not the case here or the hounds would not have run off. And who on earth would lay a trail through a popular tourist hot spot and home for thousands of villagers?

The hounds were caught on residents’ CCTV running through a housing estate much to the distress of local residents, and also over a fence – on which one of the hounds get caught up – before heading down a road in the village.

A member of the Three Counties Hunt Saboteurs saw the hunt hounds heading towards the village where the footage was captured on residents’ CCTV and obtained by local fox hunt monitors.

Change the law, and quickly

John added:

It’s time for change and for fox hunting laws to be strengthened, with so called trail hunting banned, loopholes in the law removed, and custodial sentences introduced for those that break the law.

In September the Heythrop Hunt was one of a handful of hunts who took part in a trail hunting demonstration day – organised by the Countryside Alliance and designed to show the public the hunts only follow pre-laid trails.

But the practice has been described by temporary assistant chief constable Matt Longman, the most senior police officer in England with responsibility for fox hunting crime, as a “smokescreen for illegal fox hunting”. He also described illegal hunting as “prolific”.

John said:

The police and courts need new powers to make it easier to prosecute fox hunts who are breaking the law and chasing and killing foxes as they did before the ban.

The incident comes just days after fox hunt hounds also run amok through the village of Oake in Somerset. As the Canary previously reported, between 20 and 30 unattended hounds were seen running loose in fields next to the Oake, Bradford and Nynehead Primary School on a Monday lunchtime forcing the teachers to bring their pupils inside.

Some of the hounds were seen being hit by cars and vans on the main road running through the village and dog walkers felt intimidated as the hounds rampaged through local fields.

The public can phone the League’s Animal Crimewatch service on 0300 444 1234 or email [email protected] or WhatsApp at 0755 278 8247 to report similar incidents.

Featured image via YouTube