Thames Valley Police Do Another Favour For Their Pals At The Kimblewick

Thames Valley Police have said they’re not planning to take any action against the Kimblewick Hunt following the killing of a fox in December 2020.

The CCTV footage shows the Kimblewick hounds chasing a fox through an industrial estate that they had no permission to be in, encouraged on by the huntsman Andrew Sallis. Filmed on multiple cameras it shows elements of the chase and after the kill a member of hunt staff can be seen feeding the dead fox to the hounds.

Thames Valley Police informed the landowners that they’ve interviewed huntsman Sallis under caution but wouldn’t be proceeding “because Mr Sallis has provided a ‘clear and cogent’ account of what occurred on the day.” and that “in relation to hunting offences we have to have evidence of the suspect having set out intending to hunt a fox that day, which even despite the CCTV evidence we do not have.”

Lee Moon, spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association, stated:

“There are two possible conclusions that we can draw from Thames Valley Police’s decision not to prosecute the Kimblewick –

1. They’ve watched completely different footage from the rest of the nation and genuinely believe the hunts version of events. Or
2. They’re lackeys to the powerful Kimblewick and have again done their masters bidding and made this little problem disappear.

If they had watched the same footage as the rest of us they would surely have seen huntsman Andrew Sallis actively encouraging his hounds onto the fox using well recognised and established horn and voice calls. As presumably only Mrs Sallis shared his cornflakes with him that morning only she’ll know whether he “set out intending to hunt a fox that day”. The rest of us will have to rely on the damning video evidence that proves he did just that.

The dead fox is traditionally given to hounds as a reward following a successful kill. If the Kimblewick didn’t intentionally hunt this poor creature then why did they reward their hounds? ”

The hunt hit the press in January last year when the Hunt Saboteurs Association released footage of their terriermen flushing a fox from an artificial earth to be chased by the hunts hounds. Mark Vincent and Ian Parkinson, both employees of the hunt, were found guilty of animal welfare offences and sentenced to 12 week prison sentences, suspended for one year. They lodged an appeal but abandoned it when they realised they had no chance of success.

Polly Portwin, head of hunting at the Countryside Alliance, is a member of the hunt and they were featured in a recent Countryside Alliance promotional video about how to carry out trail hunting. In 2018 they killed 97 of their hounds when they contracted TB.

Read about the Kimblewick terriermen bolting a fox here.

Footage courtesy of landowners and tenants and produced by Grafton Hunt Watch