Staggering Cruelty in the Quantock Hills

The stag’s body is thrown on a quadbike to be taken away.

North Dorset and Mendip Hunt Sabs were in action yesterday against Somerset’s Quantock Staghounds. Sabs intervened to save several stags but were unable to stop one poor animal being hunted to exhaustion and then shot.

Graphic Image

quantock staghounds
Silent scream: the dead stag is taken away for the ritual carve-up.

Sabs captured sickening footage of the thuggish Quantocks’ huntsman charging his horse at a herd of deer in order to separate out a single animal to chase. Once their victim – a four-year-old stag – had been isolated, the hunt laid on pairs of hounds to pursue him across the hills.

The panicked herd on the run.
The panicked herd on the run.

Hounds, hunt riders, and thugs on quadbikes then remorselessly hunted the stag for hours. He eventually collapsed – in complete exhaustion – in a gorse bush and was shot in the head by the hunters.

In a final indignity, the stag’s broken body was then thrown onto a quadbike to be taken away for a grotesque ritual carve-up. In stag hunting, the teeth and feet are removed and given to leading supporters, the landowner is presented with the heart or liver, while the masters keep the head and antlers.

The stag’s body is thrown on a quadbike to be taken away.
The stag’s body is thrown on a quadbike to be taken away.

A HSA spokesperson commented:

“Congratulations to brave North Dorset sabs who are pioneering the sabotage of stag hunting in the southwest.

The Quantock Staghounds are one of three such packs operating in the area, together with at least two pirate packs that target roe deer. All of these hunts are out several times a week inflicting the most unimaginable cruelty on our wildlife. Hunt sabs will continue to take action against the stag hunters – exposing their staggering cruelty and saving lives whenever we can.”

You can support North Dorset Hunt Sabs’ fight against stag hunting here: www.paypal.com/NorthDorsetHuntSabs

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