A dramatic day with the Meynell and South Staffordshire Hunt today. With help from our friends at Manchester Hunt Sabs we braved the cold, windy, wet weather to attend the meet at Forest Gate Farm in Marchington, Staffordshire.
The hunt hadn't been out long when they picked up their first scent, but sabs were in position to pull the hounds off despite a local farmer threatening to get a shotgun on them.
The hunt went back and forth over the same land, trying to pick up the scent again and succeeding until sabs once again intervened.
Eventually the hunt were forced to move to another wood, where men on quad bikes drove at sabs trying to run them down. No one was hurt and we carried on following, repeatedly met with threats and general childish behaviour from the hunt supporters. The hunt kept quiet for a while, but towards the end started to pick up again and were again going back and forth trying to re-find the scent when they'd lost it in a way no one could ever believe to be a trail.
Near the end of the day, sabs came across the hounds who had just killed a fox. They were unable to save it as it was dead when they arrived, but they were able to get video footage and recover the body, which have been handed to police for investigation.
The kill, combined with all their attempts at intimidation, serves as nothing but a reminder of why we do the things we do and puts the Meynell right in the spotlight for some extra attention. They should expect to see us very soon!