End Of The Road For Hare Hunt

News reaches the HSA that the Leadon Vale Basset Hounds are to fold.

The hunt formed in 1967 and hunted hares in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. This leaves only 5 packs in the UK registered with the Master of Basset Hounds Association (MBHA).

In recent seasons, the Leadon Vale have been plagued by hunt sabs, with Severn Vale Hunt Sabs hitting their prestigious Opening, Boxing Day, and Closing meets, along with many others. The hunt’s final meet (at Linkend Farm, Corse Lawn) was amongst those ruined by sabs, much to the dismay of basset hunting big-wigs who had travelled from far and wide to attend.

The demise of the hunt, once a big pull at hunting ‘festivals’ and country fairs, has been marked in recent years, with landowners ditching them due to the unwanted attention brought by sabs disrupting their illegal hare hunting, and their last huntsman, George Brinkworth, given the boot after receiving a suspended prison sentence for drink driving on the way back from a hunt meet in January.

A spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association said,

“The news that the Leadon Vale Bassets are no more should send shivers throughout the hare hunting community. For too long, foot packs hunting with beagles and bassets have used their low profile (compared to fox hunts) to carry out their bloodsport unimpeded. But with hunt sabs increasingly focussing on these hunts and shining a light on their illegal activities, their days are well and truly numbered.”