Hunt supporters turn out in defiance of ban (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Hunt supporters turn out in defiance of ban

THOUSANDS of north Cotswold foxhunt followers turned out to support the 170-year-old Heythrop Hunt as it held its final meeting before the killing of foxes with hounds became illegal.

The Heythrop, formed in 1835 when it split from the Beaufort Hunt, is determined to continue, despite the national foxhunting ban coming into force.

About 120 hunters rode in the meeting held on North Rye House's farmland, near Stow-on-the-Wold, last Thursday, the day before the ban became law.

An even bigger crowd, of 2,000-3,000 followers, attended the Heythrop's next meeting at Curdle Hill, near Chadlington, west Oxfordshire, on Saturday, where an aircraft towed a banner overhead to the music of steel bands and bagpipes.

No foxes were killed during Saturday's hunt.

Heythrop joint master, Tonya Wood, confirmed the hunt would continue employing its staff and breeding its hundred-plus hounds.

She said: "I feel very angry. It's the end of an era but there will be a new era."

Hunter, Penny Stephens-Clarkson, said she hoped the Law Lords would repeal the ban this summer.

She said: "It's extremely sad - a totally unnecessary piece of legislation that's not going to do much for animal welfare."

Constance Boddy, 75, a follower since she ceased hunting in 1995, said: "It's the way country life is going.

"We're being told how to live our lives."

"It's the lack of freedom of choice that's so worrying."

Gill Purser, of the Cotswold Support Group for the Abolition of Hunting, said the organisation had two people "quietly" monitoring each local hunt.

She said it would distribute leaflets, among the many countryside dwellers willing to inform it if hunts break the law, advising them how to spot illegal hunting.

Mrs Purser said the 1831 Game Act, which exempted hunts from being prosecuted for trespassing on private land, had been repealed under the ban, freeing landowners to bring prosecutions for the first time.

She said: "There are loads of people in the countryside with their own houses, their own property.

"It's a totally different era from when the local squire owned the land."

Gloucestershire Police's Chief Inspector David Peake said: "Illegal hunting will be treated as a wildlife crime and we will enforce the new law.

"We encourage people to contact the police if they see an illegal hunt taking place.

"However, it is imperative that people do not jump to conclusions.

"Wearing scarlet jackets and exercising hounds is not illegal, neither is trail hunting.

"If people in Gloucestershire see hounds and people on horseback, it does not necessarily mean an offence is being committed."

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