Another Death On Dartmoor

Just a week after two hounds belonging to a Dartmoor hunt were run over and killed on a public highway, another gruesome scene emerged from within Dartmoor National Park on Saturday when the Lamerton Hunt disembowelled a fox in front of Plymouth & West Devon Hunt Sabs.

Warning: Graphic Image

PWDHS had stuck with the hunt all day as they ran from them across difficult high moorland terrain. Yet mid-way through the afternoon huntsman David Lewis, no doubt tired of running, and thinking that he had evaded saboteurs, ditched his field riders, and went about business as usual. One foot team of saboteurs were relatively close and watched him wilfully put hounds into an area of scrubland and then deliberately sit back, light a cigarette, and let them hunt unsupervised.

Hounds immediately went into cry on the scent of foxes and sabs rushed to intervene. Sadly, by the time sabs arrived it was all over. The hounds had cornered the fox in a thicket of gorse and bramble and ripped her guts out. Sabs had the distressing task of retrieving the body from the hounds.

David Lewis is an old hand when it comes to hunting. He has been in court and investigated by the police countless times over the last ten years, but nothing has stuck yet.

The tactic of letting the hounds run amok with minimal commands from the huntsman is another one of the many ways that huntsmen subvert the Hunting Act when they are under scrutiny. A conviction under the Hunting Act relies on the prosecution being able to show intent on the part of the huntsman. This is just one of the reasons why the Hunting Act isn’t fit for purpose and needs to be changed.

You can support the work of Plymouth & West Devon Hunt Sabs here.

Despite the best efforts of brave hunt saboteurs, kills like this will continue to happen until the many loopholes of the Hunting Act are closed. Find out how you can support our general election campaign here.