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Couple’s horror
at hounds’ return
Staintondale hunt near the Atkinsons' home last week, and below, a memorial stone to Moppet.
A COUPLE have spoken of their horror at seeing a pack of hunting hounds bounding past their Ravenscar home – little more than a month after their beloved pet cat was savaged and killed by 27 dogs.
Les and Margaret Atkinson told the Evening News they had been assured by hunt members at the time of the incident that they would be given advance notice if they planned to be near their property.
But they were surprised last Tuesday when they saw hunt members on horses and dogs near their home but had been given no warning.
Mrs Atkinson said they had been out during the morning and when they returned they saw a lot of cars parked in a narrow lane near to their Stoupe Brow home, where they have lived for more than 30 years.
She said: “As I walked home I could see the hounds all over and I could see some running across the fields. I could see horses going past my house. As I got nearer I could see one of the hounds as it jumped over my wall into the lane by our house.”
Mrs Atkinson said that her husband took several pictures. One showed a hound just yards from where their cat Moppet was killed, and she felt like she was having to relive the traumatic event.
She said: “By the time I got back I was shaking like a leaf and I was in tears. I heard them coming along the lane. The dogs were out of control.”
Mr Atkinson added: “I couldn’t believe it – it was like we were reliving it all over again.”
Mrs Atkinson said if they had been warned then they could have made sure that their remaining pet cat, seven-year-old George, and five pet hens were safe and secure.
Members of the hunt are legally allowed to pass through a bridle track on the Atkinsons’ land.
Last month’s incident was during a joint meet between hunts from Staintondale and Goathland and initially a huntsman picked up a lifeless and bloodied Moppet and rode away after it was brutally attacked.
But the body was returned to the Atkinsons by members of the hunt two days later in a dogfood bag.
Last week’s hunt was by members from Staintondale and at the time of going to press no one from the group was available for comment.
Following the original incident hunt master Jean Clemmit said that they would take “preventative measures” in future.
And a spokesman for the Goathland Hunt said they would:
l leaflet residents living along any planned routes
l place marshals at properties
l make sure at least two people were with the hounds at all times.
When the Atkinsons reported last week’s incident to the police they were told that because there was no damage nor injury it was a civil matter.
The Atkinsons added that they had been overwhelmed by the messages of support they had received from members of the public when the story first hit the headlines last month.
Mr Atkinson said they had received a number of letters and Christmas cards – including one addressed to “The people whose cat was killed” – and an offer of a slate memorial stone.
He said: “He just rang up because he felt so terrible about it and said he’d like to offer a free headstone. I was very moved that someone was prepared to do that.”
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Comments
There are 49 comments to this article
Page 1 of 4
Rascal
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 07:07 PMThis discraceful sport is banned. Why do these people still do it? Anyone who chases an animal with the aim to have it torn to pieces by a bunch of dogs are sick minded. Anyone who breaks the law should be send to court and fined.
GiGi
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 05:31 PMHunting is an ancient practice and therefor ok? Public tarring, feathering and flogging should be one of those ancient practices extended to anyone who thinks its ok attacking the weaker for fun... my heart goes out to the Atkinsons in the face of such uncaring cynicism for the second time.
markdrum
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 03:36 PM#46, I can see why you would find it hard to understand how a meat eater could care about animals. I care about child labour in India but I still buy all the cheap rubbish they make. Its a tricky world, in days gone by for example you wouldn't have survived very long as a vegan for a variety of reasons, just wasn't practical to not wear furs or use animal fats regardless of whether you want eat meat or not.
paul1984
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 01:30 PMmarkdrum I find it rich that 'you just feel sorry for the chickens' and yet you admit you eat meat....
Fiftyfifty
Friday, January 20, 2012 at 12:14 AMAs has been stated by many on here & elsewhere, the hunting fraternity have no intention of changing their way of life regardless of public opinion or bad headlines. The vast majority have the same arrogance in their private or business lives too. They don't care about the odd cat or anything else that gets in their way. Very minor inconvenience! They will carry on until a complete ban is introduced of riding with hounds & even then some will manage to get round that, rules & laws do not apply to certain types. I was brought up in the country & have worked on farms in my youth so have seen first hand what goes on, even back then there was only a minor support for hunting, mostly though because of the could not give a damn attitude of those who ride with the hunts, not because of concerns about foxes. Just recently badger baiters were prosecuted & then jailed for mindless cruelty, they should have put on a red coats, no contest then.
markdrum
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 10:38 PM#43, Don't worry, I am not particularly in favour of fox hunting, I just grew up in the countryside, I liked riding and the horses were amazing, I went beating because it paid well for me and my mates to walk around all day in the mud, about 50 quid and 2 brace of pheasants, plus slap up dinner. I have no interest in killing anything, however I do like eating meat so I am stuck really.
KW93
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 04:44 PMI quite agree that it's awful when a fox kills chickens and it makes me angry. Angry, firstly, because all too often the owner hasn't taken precautions...sure, sometimes it's down to the foxes "cunning" but I've seen henhouses with barely a lock on them. But, what makes me angrier are those who think that this bizarre "sport" has anything to do with saving chickens. Firstly, hunts don't kill enough foxes to lessen predation and some hunts, prior to the ban, were known to breed foxes. Since the ban, there has been no reliable evidence whatsoever to suggest chicken predation has changed. So much for hunt control. Even if that wasn't the case though, would a dozen or so horses, 20 odd cars and 15 brace hounds really be the way to deal with it? No, that's about gory tradition, a slightly more colourful and elaborate twist on banned bloodsports. As for banning game shooting for the purposes of fun, well, yes, you're right we should ban it all. I don't want to spoil your fun, Mark, but If you insist on killing things for fun, you'll find that, ultimately, people will question where the fun in it is and, finally, ban it.
paul1984
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 12:29 PMFinally, tradition is no excuse for cruelty...and I don't really feel the need to argue that point across
paul1984
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 12:27 PMDo you eat chickens markdrum? You should feel more sorry for those chickens kept intensively in battery farms which can barely move about in their cages - and the ban on battery farms is hardly an improvement - now the chickens are able to spread their wings, yes, but they are still in confinement and watch some of the videos taken undercover in chicken farms...the cruelty inflicted on these chickens from humans is far worse than that from a fox - for example...people have been seen using these animals as baseball bats. I don't see your reasoning behind the same food chain...these hounds are bred specifically to kill the fox. They are not part of any food chain, they've been introduced by humans and are not part of the natural ecosystem. It's highly unlikely in the wild a pack of hounds would bother chasing after a fox as it's not going to provide enough sustenance for the whole pack...one fox shared between about 26 hounds? How far is that going to get them? Lets not forget these hounds are actually trained to chase after and kill the fox and don't do it naturally. You may have heard of cub hunting - where they are trained to kill young fox cubs? This is not part of any natural food chain. The hounds are not there by nature, they are introduced by humans, therefore do not play a part in the food chain. Humans are the ones in control of these hounds, and we have the ability to reason, unlike animals....we have the ability to chose our diet, and whether or not to refrain from eating meat. I'm glad you mentioned banning shooting and rearing of birds, because that's another gripe I have. I don't see why it's okay to farm these animals just so a bunch of people intent on shooting these poor creatures out of the sky can get some enjoyment out of it...how you'd enjoy taking the life of another creature is something I hope I will never be able to comprehend. For the record, yes I am vegan.
markdrum
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 09:42 AM#39, Not really pro fox hunting just feel sorry for the chickens. Killing foxes is part of the same food chain as foxes killing chickens. Anyway hunts rarely ever catch a fox, its more about the tradition. If you ban fox hunting you should ban shooting and the rearing of birds with specs just for shooting. I used to love going beating as a kid.
paul1984
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 03:08 AMTo markdrum, who says that 'foxes are just as nasty, the chickens are the helpless ones'...foxes, like all predator animals, are forced by their natural instinct, to kill other animals for the purpose of eating them - it's called survival. Yes, a fox will kill ALL the chickens in a coup, but this again is simply a survival instinct. What the fox is actually doing is cacheing the chickens...killing them all with the intention of going back to get the remains later. In a sense, stockpiling food for when times are harsh. However, the fox is usually either disturbed or the bodies are removed before the fox can get the chance to come back to retrieve them...Make no mistake, the fox is not killing these chickens for pleasure and has every intention of eating them. The hunt on the other hand...well they breed their hounds to be slower than the fox but have more stamina. This results in a terrified fox running for miles until they are too exhausted to run anymore. They may get to ground where they are dug up, and if lucky, shot. Otherwise, released and chased once more or thrown to the hounds. The hunt also promote the populations of foxes by using what are known as artificial earths...and have been videotaped actually releasing foxes from bags to be chased. When the fox is eventually caught it is disembowelled. This process is done for nothing more than pleasure, by a species that is supposedly superior to other animals. At least when the fox kills they kill out of necessity and not because they get a kick out of killing something that can't fight back.
doctorwhom
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 12:23 AMDash, used the word b ugger (in reference to the predator), there i am all moderated, its political correctness gone mad.
doctorwhom
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 12:21 AMPending Moderation
maddoc63
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 10:28 PMUnlike SteveDann , I am not a townie and I was "indoctrinated" at an early age . I can't help that, I didn't chose my life but I did make the personal choice not to support hunting in any form from foxes to pheasant . And it is a fallacy that all people who hunt are inhuman , or moronic or somehow retarded. Most are quite ordinary people who turn into adrenalin junkies when they sit on a horse . Jockeys who ride racehorses probably get the same rush . But if hunting can't be properly monitored , then the ban is useless . Muzzling hounds has never been tried and why ? Because if there was no "kill" for the hunt servants there would be "no thrill "and hunting would lose it's appeal for many. Do you get where I am going ? And as for the way foxhounds are treated in kennels ? Don't let me go there !!!
SteveDann
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 09:14 PMI don't see what the problem is. These people have proved that they are incapable of adhering to the law of the land. They still carry out their business of torturing wild animals in the name of sport as they have done for centuries. They have been indoctrinated into this lifestyle and they will not give it up. It is obvious to me what we need to do to stop this evil. We need to outlaw riding with dogs, not just hunting with dogs. Ban this contemptible practice and outlaw hunting packs completely. I am well aware of the "you townies" argument and I don't care. There are a lot more people against hunting than there are for it, townies and country folk alike. Just because something has always been done one way does not make it right!
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