WARNING UPSETTING.
Look at this scum, look what they did. If you needed any more proof of the monstrous and depraved nature of these filthy, perverted animal abusers then here it is. Every one of them should be named with their pictures so decent people can watch out for them in their area. Pure perverted wickedness.
Message from North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs
QUANTOCK STAGHOUNDS SHOOT EXHAUSTED STAG AS HE HIDES IN A BUSH
Hit report Holford 25th April 2022
We finally made the trip up to support the dedicated monitors who have been working so hard to expose these wildlife criminals. Unfortunately, despite a large team out of “anti’s” on the hills today, they still managed to kill their target, a young spring stag. Not through any skill of their own really though, in fact they had lost the stag by mid afternoon and had riders posted all over the hills on the look out.
The hounds were searching along Holford Combe when a call came in to the huntsman and they all turned and headed back over Lower Hare Knapp. Two of their spotters had seen the exhausted stag lying down in the gorse. A shot rang out and we knew it was over. We had no problem finding the body as the riders rushed to the scene to see it. We followed them and found them crowded round a holly bush and the 2 hounds lying nearby exhausted. The stag lay dead in the bush.
Hunt staff tried to block our view but we saw everything. They frantically called for their quad, which was having trouble finding them. When questioned what they will do with the stag’s body, one of them said they were going to go back and take the blood samples – attempting to go for the “Research and Observation” exemption. It was clear from the large wound in the stag’s neck however, that the body had already been bled.
Hunting deer on the Quantocks is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel – after repeatedly poking them with a stick for hours. The area is 100km square but large sections are Forestry England or National Trust land or League Against Cruel Sports sanctuaries. The stag’s home is on the hills and he does not want to leave and strike out over farmland or towns.
The kill happened on Lower Hare Knapp, very close to where the hunt initially separated out the stag from the herd. The stag was hunted through Holford Combe onto Forestry Commission Land at Dead Woman’s Ditch. Here a walker witnessed the stag being pursued closely by the hounds and bravely tried to intervene. The chase carried on further into Forestry land at Great Wood, the hunt desperately trying to head the stag back out onto the open access land.
They reappeared in our sights over the hill at Holford Combe. Meanwhile the stag tried to join a small herd of deer and we thought we had managed to head them over to safety towards the national trust land and League sanctuary. The hunt got very close to Holford village, where they are not welcome and appeared to lose the stag. They searched all round the wooded Combes below Higher and Lower Hare Knap, with riders posted on lookout all over the hillsides. We had began to think they would have to give up, when sadly he was spotted and it was all over.
There was a great number of monitors out today including League Against Cruel Sports investigators ensuring that there was nowhere the hunt could hide, and a great deal of incriminating footage has been collected. The Quantocks is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) where vulnerable ground nesting birds are present between March and August. Members of the public are required to keep dogs on leads and keep to paths.
MORE ABOUT STAG HUNTING
At its peak there were 126 registered stag hunts all over England. By 2004, however, only three remained – the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, the Quantock Staghounds, and the Tiverton Staghounds. There are no registered stag hunts in the rest of England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Spring stag hunting starts in March and ends in April. The target is a single young adult red deer stag, which enables a longer lasting hunt than full adult stags as they are not hampered by the rigours of the rut or by carrying huge spreads of antlers that make passage through dense undergrowth difficult. The young stags tend to run faster and have more stamina, but lack the experience to anything much more than try and outrun the hounds, giving the hunt the long chases that they desire which can last 6 or 7 hours. LACS https://t.co/5865lO31oC
Deer are not adapted for such sustained periods of running and the damage done to their bodies by the stress is extreme, including muscle damage, breakdown of red blood cells, exhaustion of glycogen reserves and extreme levels of cortisol and lactic acid. Even if the stag somehow escapes, it may not survive. https://www.nature.com/articles/34045
Why are these disgusting hunters still continuing to slaughter our poor struggling wildlife what do the people of England have to do to stop them are they brain dead as well as arrogant.? 😡😡😡