We are so very sorry to bring you this devastating news. At the end of the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale New Year’s Day meet at Henstridge, the hunt chased a fox onto the railway line and 4 dogs were hit by a train and killed.
A spokesperson for Network Rail said “On New Year’s Day, the driver of a train reported seeing a pack of dogs. Sadly, the train collided with four dogs near Templecombe, Somerset. As a result, we had to run trains at a reduced speed until we could confirm it was safe. We sent a mobile operations manager to inspect the line but by the time they had arrived, the dogs were gone, so we expect they had been retrieved by their owners. Trespassing on the railway is not only incredibly dangerous, but it’s also illegal. It risks terrible injuries to the people and animals involved, as well as causing unnecessary delays to passengers.”15 hounds were recorded on the line. This comes just a couple of weeks after their very near miss at Buckhorn Weston. They always hunt this particular area above the line at Templecombe and yet never have anyone positioned to prevent hounds getting on the line. The hunt are cold-bloodedly trying to pretend it never happened, hunting as normal this week and denying anything happened. The huntsman and whips have no control over their dogs as they hang back so far to avoid possibility of being seen with the fox.
No sabs were present at the time, but a monitor from Wildlife Crime Action witnessed the fox crossing the road followed by hounds, and then heard the train’s horn being sounded repeated. Many thanks to them for getting official confirmation from Network Rail.
Run free beautiful dogs.
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