By Tamworth Herald | Posted: March 17, 2015
By Helen Machin
ATHERSTONE Hunt has spoken out against saboteurs whom it claims have been carrying out a campaign of harassment against it.
Joint Master of the Hunt, Marion Carter, said that since December, police have attended virtually every meet, as the saboteurs have been turning up to each one.
At last week’s meet in Sutton Cheney, members of West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs allege that they caught the Atherstone hunting a fox and police have confirmed they are investigating.
But Marion insisted that Atherstone continues to hunt within the law as it has for the ten years since it became illegal to hunt a fox. Since then, hunts follow an artificially-laid trail.
She told the Herald: "We’ve been hunting within the law for the ten years since the ban and since Christmas we have suffered a campaign of harassment from some fairly nasty animal extremists.
"There are deer and foxes in the countryside, but we were not hunting the fox, there was no intent there at all. We hunt trails – but you do sometimes see other animals and if the hounds do chase them we will stop them as soon as possible – our hounds are well-disciplined, they are trained to hunt artificial scents.
"We are undertaking a lawful activity, while the saboteurs are constantly trespassing on private land.
"I am quite content that these complaints are complete nonsense and there is nothing in it at all," she added.
But in an open post on social media, West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs said: "After telling the police about the illegal hunting, they informed us they had told the hunt to call the hounds off.
"However the hunt didn’t seem to get that message as the hounds chased the fox straight past where the police were standing. We did what we could to help the fox, and also made a formal complaint to the police present who were from Leicestershire."
A spokesman for Leicestershire Police said: "Officers from Leicestershire Police did attend the hunt meeting in Sutton Cheney and an allegation of illegal hunting was made and inquiries are ongoing in to that report."
http://www.tamworthherald.co.uk/Atherstone-Hunt-organisers-hit-saboteurs/story-26156614-detail/story.html
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