Hunt Sabs Trigger More Tension in English Village

Anti-hunting groups have triggered more angry clashes in the English countryside.

In the latest in a series of heated confrontations there was a stand-off in a Cambridgeshire village.

Members of the Fitzwilliam Hunt from Peterborough were surrounded in the village of Upwood near Huntingdon by hunt saboteurs. They claimed the hunt was illegally chasing a fox.

The incident ended peacefully but only after moments of tensions in which both sides were involved in heated exchanges.

Fox hunting with dogs has been made illegal by the Hunting Act, which also bans the hunting of deer, hares and mink – with dogs in England and Wales.

However, stalking a wild mammal, or flushing it out of cover, is exempt if the animal would cause damage to other wildlife and land.

Some protesters shouted “Get out of our village, it’s an absolute disgrace, you’re not wanted here.” They claimed the hunt had brought havoc to the village.

However, a hunt spokesman said the group was hunting within the law. He accused activists of “telling blatant lies.”

The spokesman said: “Unfortunately some hounds got into a village but there was no damage, hounds were removed and the hunt has apologised to those concerned.

“The behaviour of animal rights activists shouting, screaming and telling blatant lies may well have caused some concern in the village to inflame the situation and was certainly of no help to anyone.”

Members of the The Beds and Bucks Hunt Saboteurs filmed the incident and posted it on Facebook.