And Then There Was One: Fox Hunting Is Dying In Kent

Local sabs are today celebrating confirmation of the fact that there is now just one fox hunt remaining in Kent.

The Ashford Valley Tickham (itself an amalgamation of the Ashford Valley and Tickham hunts) are amalgamating with the East Kent with West Street (an amalgamation of the East Kent and West Street hunts) to form the Kent Hounds.

This is effectively an amalgamation of four hunts as reflected in the new Kent Hounds logo.

The Ashford Valley kennels in Hothfield are for sale with the Kent Hounds settling at the East Kent’s kennels in Elham.

This leaves only one fox hunt left kennelled in Kent.

Sabs have put increasing pressure on both hunts for decades with the West Kent Hunt Sabs formed in 2017 primarily to focus on the Ashford Valley.

Warning: Graphic Image

A Kent sab commented:

“There have been many significant events we captured that attracted media attention and ultimately eroded the Ashford Valley’s supporter base. These include filming them kill a fox right in front of us, using a drone to film terrier men digging out before they shot the drone with a shotgun, and a member of hunt staff, Julie Hadlow – still with the hunt – being convicted of assault after throwing fox urine at our sab’s face.

We also continued our relentless pressure on the East Kent suffering numerous violent incidents over the years.

Ultimately, we eroded both hunts’ supporter base down to around five riders attending most hunt meets. The hunts also lost several large landowners – including Forestry Commission land which the East Kent relied heavily on – as a result of the fallout from the Hunting Office “smokescreen” webinars.

With only one fox hunt remaining in Kent and the sole attention of two thriving sab groups, the writing is on the wall for fox hunting in Kent. It really is a case of when not if fox hunting ends in Kent and we will do everything in our power to expedite this as fast as possible.”

You can support East Kent sabs and West Kent sabs via their Facebook pages or via PayPal.