Staggering Cruelty in the Quantock Hills

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.

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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.

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.

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