A father and son have been banned from keeping animals after pleading guilty to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal at Folkestone magistrates on 20th December.
Robert and Jack Mills, of Elham near Canterbury, were terriermen for the Kent Hounds and before the recent amalgamations in the region, the East Kent Hunt with West Street.
An RSPCA raid in January 2023 found two dogs in their care with horrific injuries, ‘trophy photos’ of them involved in illegal hunting and incriminating messages on mobile phones.
The pair failed to get proper veterinary treatment for two dogs who were injured during fights with wild animals.
They used superglue to botch the lip of a Patterdale terrier, called Fudge, back together after the dog was maimed – likely by a fox in an underground fight.
As well as the injuries, pictures found on a phone show Jack smiling and posing with a dead fox and Fudge during a ‘dig out.’ Jack is standing in a hole, with a spade and typical hunt terrierman quad bike in the background.
Kent Hunt Sabs said:
“Terriermen – the ‘soft underbelly of the hunting world’ – have no place on a genuine ‘trail hunt’.
“The Kent Hounds time and time again are caught hunting foxes and it’s great that their terriermen have been exposed and justice been served for the animals they take pleasure in torturing.
With more hunt staff from the Kent Hounds due in court in the new year and the hunt losing support we expect the writing is on the wall for this newly amalgamated hunt.”
Further, a Hunt Saboteurs Association spokesperson said:
“This case highlights the shady world of fox hunting and the cruelty towards both wild animals and those in the ‘care’ of the hunters.”
“Not only is it enough that packs of hounds chase foxes across the countryside, but when those foxes take refuge underground, they are forced to fight terriers underground, are ‘dug out’ with spades and killed outright or thrown back to hounds by terriermen.”
“Even ‘hunting’s governing body,’ the British Hound Sports Association, have realised that terrierwork is not good for hunting’s public image and have attempted to impose an ‘in house’ ban, but many hunts are simply ignoring this.”
“The only solution is for the Government to ban cruel terrierwork on hunts, something the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs can do almost immediately.”
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