**𝗝𝗢𝗜𝗡 𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗖𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗔𝗜𝗚𝗡 – 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗜𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗪𝗜𝗟𝗗𝗟𝗜𝗙𝗘, 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗜𝗧 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗬 𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗦 𝗔 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗣𝗟𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗨𝗧𝗘𝗦**
𝗔𝗦𝗞 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗨𝗞𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗪𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗢 𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗙𝗔𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥’𝗦 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗘, 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗕𝗔𝗡 𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗚𝗔𝗟 ‘𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗟 𝗛𝗨𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚’ 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗥𝗘 𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘
Now the sordid truth about ‘trail hunting’ has been revealed (see: https://bit.ly/2NBjoG0), we request that the Duke join the
National Trust, Forestry England, United Utilities, Lake District National Park and many others, and remove permission for hunts to ‘trail hunt’ on his land.
In 2004, before the enactment of the Hunting Act, which banned the hunting of wild mammals with a pack of hounds, the then Duke of Westminster, who owned the 11,000 acre Eaton Estate in West Cheshire, vowed to stop hunts using his land if they broke the law (see: https://bit.ly/3qqCRbs): “I respect the law and if the law of the land comes in in February I will stick to it.”
As was repeatedly admitted in the Hunting Office summer webinars, which were recently leaked, hunts are more than happy to break the law and continue hunting foxes and other wild mammals, providing they are able to evade prosecution by using various tactics and by creating a “smokescreen” (see ITV News item here: https://bit.ly/2NBjoG0).
The Eaton Estate includes the villages of Churton, Coddington, Saighton, Aldford, Poulton and Waverton (map: https://bit.ly/3p8wI1E), all under the authority of Cheshire West and Chester Council, who are themselves looking to ban ‘trail hunting’ from public land (see: https://bit.ly/3jwL371).
The law making hunting with hounds illegal did indeed, come into effect in 2005, and yet since then – 16 years later – the previous Duke, and more recently his son Hugh, the new Duke of Westminster, have continued to allow the Wynnstay, Cheshire Hounds and Cheshire Beagle hunts use Estate land to hunt and kill wild mammals. All the while, the Estate’s website makes claims that they are managing the land responsibly and for the protection of biodiversity (see: https://bit.ly/33KajAa).
Cheshire Monitors, along with numerous local residents including tenants of the Duke (almost always tell us they are too worried about repercussions to complain directly) have watched hunts chase and kill foxes countless times on land owned by the Duke.
To give just two examples, in February 2018 the Wynnstay Hunt chased a fox from the Duke’s private estate (a regular meet point) and killed it in front of a group of workmen (see “It made me feel sicking watching the fox being ripped to pieces”: https://bit.ly/2MLnQC6). They then used the Dukes private bridge to cross the river Dee and carried on hunting in Alford.
Then in February 2020 a fox was torn to pieces in front of a local family, and some of its internal organs left on their lawn, during a meet of the Wynnstay Hunt hosted by a tenant of the Duke’s (a regular meet point) in the village of Coddington (see: https://bit.ly/2NbSNiv).
As is all too common, the witnesses were too scared to take direct action following intimidation from pro-hunt neighbours (also residents of the Estate).
𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝘂𝗸𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵. 𝗦𝗼, 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝘀𝗸, 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲?
Now is the perfect opportunity to follow the National Trust, Forestry England, United Utilities, Lake District National Park, and others, and removes permission for hunts to trail hunt on the Eaton Estate is removed with immediate effect.
***𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡***
𝟭) 𝗔𝘀𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝘂𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 ‘𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴’ 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲: Contact the Duke via his Estate Manager Annabel Farbon – Email: Annabel.Farbon@grosvenor.com / telephone 01244 684400 – and politely request that he follows the lead of the National Trust, Forestry England, United Utilities, Lake District National Park, and others, and removes permission for hunts to trail hunt on the Eaton Estate with immediate effect. You can also email eaton.reception@grosvenor.com or write to the Duke of Westminster, c/o Eaton Estate Office, Eccleston, Chester CH4 9ET.
𝟮) 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: https://www.thepetitionsite.com/…/ban-fox-hunting-on…/
𝟯) 𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 to your friends to any relevant groups you are a member of.
𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁/𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲? We would like to hear from you to hear about your/their experiences of the hunts using the estate to ‘trail hunt’. Email us in complete confidence at info@cheshiremonitors.org.uk or message us via this page.
(Neighbouring land owned by the Barnston Estate (barnstonestate.com) and Bolesworth Estate (bolesworth.com) is also regularly used for illegal ‘trail hunting’. We’ll be posting more details about them soon, but you may like to request they do the same.)