Last Saturday, Wiltshire Sabs witnessed the Duke of Beaufort Hunt – the hunt that King Charles and Camilla used to ride with – kill a fox, before stuffing her remains into a convenient bin bag.
Sabs had been on the hunt all day in torrential rain. A small crew in one vehicle had already managed to save the life of one fox earlier in the day, despite heavy intimidation from the new team of hunt ‘stalkers’ tasked with disrupting the sabs.
Around 3.30pm the sabs had lost sight of the hunt for a brief period, but caught up with them on the Fosse Way – a Roman road which runs between Easton Grey and Shipton Moyne in North Wiltshire. The numerous quads and hunt support tasked with stalking the sabs had also lost the sab vehicle, enabling sabs to drive onto the Fosse Way unseen. As they approached the Wessex Water Treatment works the hunt believed they were free from sabs’ eyes and cameras.
As soon as hunt goons spotted the sab vehicle a quad bike whizzed into action, already aware the fox was in the hedgerow, the quad driver quickly began revving the engine to mask the horrifying sound of the kill. Sabs jumped out of the vehicle, but it was immediately apparent that it was too late to save the fox.
Hunt quad manoeuvres in front of the arriving sab vehicle realising the fox was in the hedgerow, the Whipper-In Mitch Prosser encourages the hounds to kill.
Whipper-in Mitch Prosser had just been heard instructing the dogs to ‘hunt for it’, quickly dismounting to jump into the hedgerow to retrieve the body before sabs could get there. Sabs were immediately surrounded by hunt support and the high-vis wearing stalkers.
Prosser was then filmed as he stuffed the poor animal’s remains into a bin-bag. Beaufort hunt staff carry bin-bags so that they can quickly dispose of the evidence of their criminality.
There is absolutely no doubt this was exactly the sort of intentional hunting that so-called ‘trail-hunts’ carry out every day of the week, and there is no doubt they will cry it was ‘an accident’ and the ineffectual current law will once again fail our besieged wildlife.
All levels of the Beaufort Hunt – from subscribers, to supporters, to stalkers, to the landowner – worked together to commit this crime, conceal the evidence and disrupt those trying to prevent it.
The meet was held at the prestigious ‘Westonbirt School’. The last time this hunt met here was two years ago, the fox was killed on school grounds, sabs were present on this day too, which prompted the Headteacher to report the incident to police. You might think this would cause the school to cut ties but, no, they were once again invited back and the hunt was welcomed with open arms.
Now, more than ever, we need the government to strengthen the hunting ban. The Introduction of a ‘Recklessness Clause’ Witness The End Of Hunting: Why We Need A ‘Recklessness’ Clause would make this scene an offence outright.
A spokesperson for Wiltshire Sabs commented:
“Saturday was hell for the wildlife around Westonbirt and Shipton Moyne, blatant illegal hunting with no let up. We suspect the law won’t act in this case, as it hasn’t acted in so many cases we have given to police of blatant illegal hunting. What we witnessed was nothing short of barbaric, hundreds of riders and spectators came out to watch a terrified tiny animal run for its life, before being ripped to pieces, they are all complicit.
A strengthening of the law cannot come soon enough ending the ‘accident’ excuse which so often lets them off the hook. In the meantime we will be out every week until they are finished for good”
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