Countryside Capers in North Warwickshire

As a sequel to Piggate, although not involving pigs or our Prime Minister this time, was a post which caught my eye on the North West Hunt Saboteurs Face Book page. The alleged incident happened on Saturday, September 19th on Overton Road, Ibstock, the stamping ground of the Atherstone Hunt.

It’s not the first time the hunt has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, but this time it was particularly sick.

Two female saboteurs were following the hunt on foot, and as usual the hunt heavies were doing all they could to prevent the two women filming the hounds out hunting.  A young man appeared with a dead Canada goose under his arm. He began swinging the goose’s head whilst holding it near his crotch, then laughing wildly he simulated a sex act with the dead goose whilst a mounted member of the hunt sat laughing and filming nearby.  The young thug’s brother ran past and took a swinging kick at the dead animal’s head, whilst his friends milled around grinning and laughing.

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Screeching with laughter at his own antics, he then forced the bird’s beak open and said it was his new pet whilst moving the beak up and down claiming the bird was telling him its name was Bob.

He then make the dead creature’s wings flap to the theme tune for Batman and ran off down the road to appear at the sabs’ car window waving one wing at the occupants inside.

A complaint was lodged with the hunt, who were quick to deny they had any connection with the hunt steward and proclaiming it was a sick act which would be dealt with appropriately. A statement from the hunt said the man in question would not be welcome at any of the hunt meetings.

A bit hard to deny any connection, however, as gooseman was wearing a grey hoodie with Hunt Steward on the back and underneath, ‘I eat sabs for breakfast’. Hard  to explain also is why a female member of the hunt, alleged to be the girlfriend of one of the joint masters was laughing and filming the whole sick episode on her mobile phone.

Further enquiry reveals that the Atherstone hunt has been caught allegedly hunting on several different occasions.   

Below is a statement from the West Midlands Hunt saboteurs concerning another incident with the Atherstone hunt.

“On Saturday the 28th February 2015 West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs attended a meet of the Atherstone Fox hunt at Sibson, Leicestershire. They were there to gather evidence of illegal hunting and to intervene if necessary to save hunted foxes.

From the start of the day it was clear that the Atherstone were illegally hunting as they repeatedly put their hounds through areas likely to contain foxes with no evidence that a trail had been laid.
The attached video shows a fox being closely pursued by the Atherstone hounds. The huntsman and whipper in are present at the time and neither do anything to stop the illegal hunting. Their only concern is to impede and assault the saboteurs who are filming their law breaking.

The huntsman in the red coat can be seen using his horse to ride at a sab and pin him against a wall. The video also shows the saboteurs being assaulted by hunt supporters who try and steal their cameras. One female saboteur received nasty cuts to her face after a hunt supporter dug her nails into her face.

We can confirm that the CPS have decided not to prosecute the huntsman for illegal hunting, despite the video showing the fox running across the path of the hunters, closely followed by two fox hounds. No attempts were made by any of the hunt staff present to stop the hounds. In fact the first thing the Huntsman did after seeing the fox, was to ride his horse violently into the nearest person, pinning them up against the wall.”

The police have separately charged the woman in the footage for two accounts of assault, yet oddly it seems the huntsman will face no charge for his actions.

Kelly Watson, spokesperson for West Midland Hunt saboteurs, stated:
 “Although this video clearly shows illegal hunting and assault we are shocked that no charges have been brought against the huntsman. The hounds were clearly out of control and yet no charges have been made. Despite clear evidence of hunting and assaults, no-one faces any charges, yet when members of the Atherstone Hunt make allegations with no evidence the police are happy to act and issue Police Information Notices to the two saboteurs in this footage.”

There is a petition circulating asking the CPS to reconsider charging the Huntsman with common assault contrary to section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. There is also clear evidence of the illegal hunting of a fox and no attempts made by any members of the hunt or their stewards to call off the hounds. This is contrary to the legislation set out in the Hunting Act of 2004.

September 25, Facebook

Saboteurs say once again they caught the Atherstone hunt chasing another fox. A spokesperson for the saboteurs had this to say,

“Thanks to a tip off we found the Atherstone Hunt at High Cross. A small group attended this meet and this is what happened......the driver found herself in the right spot at the right time. She could see hounds in full cry charging up a field close to the A5. Knowing this meet well from main season she drove up to the lane (ironically the same lane where a sab was wrongfully arrested for causing chaos and mayhem last hunting season) to find the hunt causing real chaos and mayhem. As she approached she could hear hounds in cry and suddenly a fox appeared. He turned quickly in front of the hounds back into the hedge. One of the hunt supporters was very close to the fox but he did nothing to turn the hounds way. He just stood there watching as if the horror of the situation was entirely normal. The fox then jinked back out of the hedge and ran straight across the road closely followed by two lead hounds.

Facebook Timeline

The driver leaped out of the car and at this point the whipper in knew what was happening and when she realised a camera was pointing straight at the road, she panicked. If the driver hadn’t been there it would have been business as usual for the hunt and their dogs would have carried on chasing and killing the fox.”

How many hours of footage will it take?

How many witness statements?

How many saboteurs have to be injured before the police do what they are supposed to do and uphold the law?

What are the police doing exactly, apart from harassing the saboteurs?

It seems like they are acting as private bodyguards for lawbreakers and the CPS, when presented with irrefutable evidence, decide there is no case to answer.

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