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The hunt rides out in Chard, Ilminster and Crewkerne

6:10am Thursday 29th December 2011 in Somerset

The hunt rides out in Chard, Ilminster and Crewkerne The hunt rides out in Chard, Ilminster and Crewkerne

WHAT a difference 12 months makes.

Last year the icy conditions saw the traditional Boxing Day hunts scaled down – riders and horses were unable to gather in the town centres of Chard, Crewkerne and Ilminster for safety reasons.

But there was no repeat this year with the Cotley Hunt in Chard, the Seavington Hunt in Crewkerne and the Taunton Vale Hunt in Ilminster.

Anti-hunt campaigners staged a small and peaceful protest in Fore Street, Chard, and chanted ‘shame on you’ as the riders moved off. The large masses of hunt supporters greeted that with cheers.

Comments(6)

cerdicboy says...
9:42am Thu 29 Dec 11

A century on and controversial hunting  -  whereby pack dogs are bred just to persecute defenceless wildlife in a one-sided ritual to titillate sadistic human emotions  -  is still with us, now flouted by some introvert individuals who appear to arrogantly consider themselves above the law.
Dozens of dogs and human followers, versus a single diminutive fox or our nationally declining brown hare, is truly an immature and cowardly activity by people who unfortunately cannot adapt to 21st century more enlightened values.

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ChardCentral says...
10:32am Thu 29 Dec 11

In the Chard area, 400 to 500 people watched the local hunt.
Around 18,000 people stayed away.
The numbers speak for themselves.

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Bunty Babe says...
11:42am Thu 29 Dec 11

I am appalled that some people in Britain, i.e. the hunting fraternity, are giving the outside world, tourism and the economy the wrong image that hunting with a pack bloodthirty humans and dogs for anything is acceptable. The hunting community is tarring us all with cruelty and their vile actions. In my opinion they are no better than thugs and bullies.

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Chardian says...
1:51pm Thu 29 Dec 11

Hunting is arrogance dressed up as tradition, and bloodlust dressed up as sport.
Bear-baiting has gone. In Spain, bull-fighting is fading away. Fox-hunting will go too.
Cerdicboy is right: in 2011-12 we should all be beyond this.

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M Artian says...
12:40pm Fri 30 Dec 11

It used to be considered acceptable to send children up chimneys, refer to other nations in Imperial condescending terms and recommend smoking as a cure for toothache. Time moves on, taking pleasure in cruelty to animals is unjustified and the pest control argument is myth- cars killed more foxes and they naturally achieve a balanced population. Perhaps the hunt lobby would have more support if they switched quarry to something more acceptable- bankers, newspaper reporters and pedophiles, perhaps? As it stands, they are an arrogant anachronism from an age of barbarity.

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MartynJohnston says...
10:43am Wed 4 Jan 12

Closing town high streets falls under the Town Police Clauses Act 1847.
This states that the Council is responsible for allowing roads to be closed to the public.
It states that it is illegal for dogs to be loose without leads.
It states that it is illegal to collect money without a licence.
It states that the council is legally responsible for carrying out a ‘statutory consultation’ with the Police, Fire Service, Ambulance, Somerset Highways and County Highways Services before issuing a Road Closure Order.
It states that the hunt organisation must have 'legally required' public liability insurance.
As the council are ignoring the law in allowing this event to take place; I was pleased to see that councillors were there to at least see what is happening.

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