2024 came to an end with the country’s worst hunt causing untold suffering over a number of days. In this guest article, Dorset Hunt Monitors and North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs give an eyewitness report of the terrors they witnessed on the ground over this Christmas period.
Even by the appalling standards of the Blackmore & Sparkford Vale Hunt (BSV) in recent times, their behaviour over the Christmas period this year was truly shocking. Having been suspended at the end of last season following their indiscrete killing of a fox at Pelsham Farm, which resulted in nationwide coverage on Channel 4 News and a short suspension by the British Hound Sports Association, one might have thought that they would have changed their ways but alas, this season has been as bad, if not worse, than what has gone on before.
Despite the relentless attention of sabs and monitors since August, the BSV appear to have adopted a policy of ‘chase as many foxes as possible and to hell with the consequences’.
23 December: trespassing a residential garden
Even before the Christmas period, the BSV had warmed up with a meet at Stalbridge on 23 December. A number of hounds hunted a fox into the garden of a local resident, while huntsman George Pierce encouraged the remainder of the pack to carry on the pursuit in front of the furious owner. A complaint has been made to Dorset Police in respect of this incident…to add to the countless other complaints that have been made against all the hunts that operate in the county.
24 December: Hounds in frenzy on busy road
On Christmas Eve the BSV moved their meet from Milborne Port to a farm in Purse Caundle. This may have been due to the growing unpopularity of the BSV in the local community, where more and more landowners are banning them from their land.
Having had a quiet morning with no success, Pierce headed to a covert where hounds always find a fox – and sure enough they did so again. Anticipating the route that a hunted fox may take is key to the success of monitoring hunts like the BSV.
It is interesting to read old hunting reports dating back decades before the ban, and to read how foxes hunted then follow the same routes as foxes do now. So when we headed around to the village of Yenston on the A357 it wasn’t by chance; it’s where hunted foxes found in that covert head for on a regular basis. Sure enough hounds were soon in cry at a farm next to the busy road and as we passed a fox was seen crossing the road behind us.
In such situations, most hunts would be cautious, maybe taking the hounds quietly across the road to pick up the fox’s scent a field or two in from the road…not the BSV.
Within seconds, the hunt staff were shouting and “hollering” to alert the huntsman that the fox had been seen while others whipped up the pack into a frenzy as hounds emerged into the traffic from all angles. Having crossed the road and disrupted the Christmas Eve of numerous innocent passers-by, the hunt failed to find the fox and thankfully moved on.
26 December: Using horse as weapon
Boxing Day was another occasion when the initial meet was changed at the last moment as the original hosts had a change of heart, and the BSV descended on the village of Babcary instead. Even the altered location didn’t change the mentality of George Pierce and his grubby little crew as North Dorset Hunt Sabs and Mendip Hunt Sabs filmed hounds pursuing a fox in front of whipper-in Conall McGrath, who also did his best to deposit a female sab into a hedge from a public footpath by using his horse as a weapon.
28 December: More roads brought to a standstill
If the previous two meets were awful then Saturday’s meet at the hunt master’s Tanner’s Farm, Kington Magna, was on another level. Yet again the meet had to be moved following complaints by the good folk of Yenston, who had contacted the police after the events on Christmas Eve.
After a quiet morning with hounds searching unsuccessfully around in several locations where foxes are usually found, things were looking as dull as the weather for the waiting supporters. However, right on cue, a fox was eventually found near Tanner’s Farm – even though it had been drawn blank earlier in the day – and a young fox was seen crossing the access road to the farm by a monitor who warned North Dorset Hunt Sabs that the fox was heading their way. Miraculously the fox ran within feet of the sabs, quickly followed by a hound which was turned by the sabs; unfortunately they could not stop the full pack, which arrived shortly after and were soon in full cry after the fox in full view of McGrath.
From a position on the A30 a monitor from Dorset Hunt Monitors then filmed the same fox running parallel with the busy road before being headed by a group of hunt followers, who watched on motionless as the hunt openly broke the law in front of them.
The terrified fox then crossed the busy road with hounds following on behind. Within minutes the entire A30 had been brought to a standstill as hounds ran completely out of control with hunt supporters running around in the road, trying to ensure that the huntsman put hounds on to the fox’s line at the right location.
The hunt continued on the opposite side of the road before the pack split, leaving Pierce with just half and McGrath with the others. We thought at that point that the hunt would return back across the A30 but alas the hounds were soon in cry again on perhaps the same fox, hunting adjacent to Landshire Lane with sabs trying to stop them.
Having hunted all over the road and disrupted traffic there too, they were then on the line of the fox heading towards the A357 near Henstridge. When sabs arrived on the road they were met with the sight of hounds emerging from private gardens and riders blocking all traffic on the main road to allow the illegal chase to continue.
It is assumed the fox had escaped hounds by leaping over the perimeter wall of Stalbridge Park, and as the hunt entered the park the fox was again betrayed by a supporter’s hollah as it ran to another wood called Rabbit Warren.
Despite the efforts of the BSV support, who repeatedly blocked the roads around the park, sabs managed to keep up with the hounds as they crossed the road numerous times in pursuit of the fox. Having spent around 30 minutes in the walled estate, the fox was viewed by support heading back towards the A357, and thankfully in failing light the hounds were stopped, allowing the fox to make its escape.
It’s impossible to put into writing the sheer awfulness of the day’s events and for those monitors and sabs who tried so hard to buy enough time for the young fox to escape, we will never forget what we saw.
But it’s not an isolated incident. It happens all the time in Dorset and it’s not restricted to the BSV either. On the Saturday before Christmas, Dorset Hunt Monitors filmed the Portman chasing a fox across a road, while a few weeks before that Weymouth Animal Rights filmed a fox being dragged from a fox earth by hounds and killed. And on the opening meet of the Seavington back in October, Two Counties Hunt Sabs filmed a fox being chased and killed and its body thrown in a ditch.
It’s easy to be despondent about the current state of affairs but we have to find something positive to come from this season’s events. Hopefully greater public awareness will bring some recognition from Dorset Police and Avon & Somerset Police that something has to be done to deal with out of control hunts like the BSV.
If ever there was a time for action – it is now. We will be using all the means we can to ensure that both police forces act to protect the public and urge them each to issue the BSV with a Community Protection Notice.
- Donate to the sabs and monitors! Please show your support for both groups by donating to Dorset Hunt Monitors here and North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs here.
