Animal welfare activists filmed events during and after an English fox hunt using a hidden camera.
What they captured was a disturbing scene that has since had consequences.
Although hunting wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales was banned by the Hunting Act 2004, which came into force in 2005, a number of exemptions continue to permit some previously unusual forms of recreational hunting of wild mammals with dogs: a combination of laid trails and flushing the fox for a bird of prey, for example.
The modified fox hunt in England is a hobby for many people, particularly horse enthusiasts — but it is highly controversial among animal welfare campaigners.
Horses are repeatedly injured during these hunts, and have on occasion been shot on the spot.
Animal welfare activists regularly protest against these pursuits. And their concern is not only for the animals being hunted, but also for the horses that the hobby hunters ride through the undergrowth.
That the concerns of animal welfare campaigners are justified was recently demonstrated by yet another shocking video.
It shows a group of hunters after the traditional Cottesmore Hunt. They are loading their horses into transport trailers. While two men carry equipment to a car, a woman together with a teenage girl attempts to lead a grey horse into the trailer. But the animal is startled by something and nervously backs away a few steps. On the left of the frame, a man on a quad bike can be seen pulling up beside the group — the engine noise may well have frightened the horse. It is not a dramatic situation: when the girl goes over to bring the grey horse back, it trots straight towards her in a friendly manner and gently nudges her with its nose. In all likelihood it would now have loaded into the trailer without any trouble … but things turn out differently.
Hobby hunter kicks and hits the horse
At that moment, Sarah Moulds, a hunting-enthusiast primary school teacher, arrives with another horse. Almost instinctively, she lets go of her own horse's lead rope, takes the white horse's rope from the girl's hand, kicks the animal in the chest, and strikes it several times hard on both sides of its face. She then drags it into the trailer, visibly furious.
Investigation and dismissal
The British animal welfare association has officially launched an investigation into the young woman, and her riding club has expelled her.
Primary school teacher Sarah Moulds has now also been dismissed from Somerby Primary School.
Hertfordshire Hunt Saboteurs stated that the video was filmed near Sewstern in Leicestershire. It has been viewed more than two million times and condemned on social media by celebrities such as Judy Murray, Russell Tovey, and John Bishop, who described it as «inexcusable».
For other animal owners with an aggression problem, this is hopefully a warning not to take out their temper on animals (or other people), writes Stern.
