7-month-old kitten 'ripped to pieces' during illegal fox hunt on Christmas Eve: 'It goes on in this day and age'
An "illegal fox hunt" on Christmas Eve led to a seven-month-old kitten being "ripped to pieces."
The "barbaric" tradition of the Bramham Hunt in Scarcroft, West Yorkshire, during which hounds are made to chase foxes in the forest till the wildlife creatures are exhausted, was being executed this year on December 24 on the Bramham Estate, the park where Leeds Festival is held every year, when the incident happened.
"The hunt was going through there in the morning, chased the fox and we filmed them chasing the fox out to the woodland," Luke Steele, an independent hunt monitor who recorded the footage, said: "The fox went to the ground in a badger sett and the huntsman obviously came along and the hounds were trying to dig the fox out."
Steele added that it was "absolutely sickening to see a fox being chased to exhaustion by a pack of baying hounds across Bramham Park, an area popular with festival-goers who would be horrified to learn of the cruelty inflicted on hunted wildlife at the venue."
The hounds continued onto the land of the Hellwood Racing Stables in Scarcroft where a kitten named Tiger, who lived at Cat Action Trust 1977 Leeds for eight weeks before he was adopted in August, was allegedly torn to pieces by them.
"The owner found the cat. The dogs came through and the cat was found all over the place. All that’s left of him is bits of fur everywhere. It’s disgusting that this goes on in this day and age. It’s barbaric," Branch leader Shelia Pickersgill told Metro.
Steele said that following the gruesome incident he contacted the Bramham Estate Resident Agent Nick Pritchard and told him to disband the hunt because a law had been broken.
"The Hunting Act is clear that landowners have a responsibility to ensure wildlife is not chased or killed by hounds on their land and those facilitating hunting could easily find themselves on the wrong side of the law," he said. "Bramham Park should now fulfill its obligation to prevent wildlife crime and maintain strong community relations by no longer inviting the hunt in light of the events on Christmas Eve."
A spokesperson from the Badsworth and Bramham Hunt said: "The Hunt were in the vicinity on the 24th December and are aware that a young cat went missing. Hunt officials are liaising with the owner at this difficult and sensitive time."
There was no word on whether the hunt will be permanently banned.