A So Called Non Fox/Drag Hunt, Bus Driver, Policeman & Blogger - Part 1

I managed to snap this photo ( & some more) of the Hunt on Xmas eve
 courtesy of a bus driver who slowed down for me

The so called non fox Hunt seemed to appear from nowhere in full force today on Christmas Eve, while I was on my return journey by bus from Sturminster Newton back to Blandford between Manston and Child Okeford, at approximately 14:30. The bus driver who like myself is firmly against hunting if it involves foxes or other animals was good enough to slow down for me as he could see that I had my little (Canon Power Shot) camera to the ready - the bus driver told me I had to be quick and so I tried my best and took some photos as fast as the camera would allow.

The Fox Hound dogs (and there were a lot of them) were to the furthest left of the area caught in the pictures, so unfortunately I didn't have time to capture their image. A passenger on the bus and I don't believe that the Hunt were simply drag hunting, due to the massive binoculars of whopping telescopic proportions that some of the Hunt chasers/observers were looking through, (hunt chaser - like a storm chaser, but following a hunt) furthermore the fox hound dogs looked very wound up and agitated.

A few minutes after the bus had driven past the Hunt I remember wishing I had my mobile so that I could have called the Police to attend the Hunt because in my opinion, I wouldn't trust the Hunt for a moment longer than it takes to say Basil Brush...

Dorset Police couldn't even get it together
 to hire a horse or a few
so that the Police could ride with the hunt
to ensure that no Fox's or any other animals
weren't in any way harmed by the Hunt

As I got off the bus in Blandford, after of course thanking the bus driver for being such a hero and allowing me a moments photo opportunity concerning a topic that many other people and I feel very very strongly about, by chance a Policeman was walking by. So I approached the said officer and asked him if he knew that the Hunt was out and about near Manston, the officer told me that it was a drag hunt and that a Police Officer was out with the Hunt monitoring their activities, I asked the Policeman if the attending officer would actually be riding with the hunt, to which the Policeman I was talking to said no, due to the fact that Dorset Police is a relatively under resourced small force.

The Blandford Buzz makes the following comments


1) The Hunt shouldn't be trusted and therefore must be supervised by more than a lone Police officer.


2)  The very fact that the Police sent an officer to todays Hunt meet, in itself by default means that even the Police obviously don't trust the Hunt.


3) Dorset Police (as any Police force), must at all times enforce the law - and sending one officer to "man" the so called non fox hunt is ridiculously inadequate and disproportionate and so thus may have left the current fox hunting ban vulnerable to contravention by the Hunt today.


4) Fox hunting is barbaric so in order to ensure that foxes and other wild lives are protected from any Hunt excursion, the Police should film the hunt from start to finish.


5) The Blandford Buzz shouldn't have to suggest to the Police that to properly supervise a hunt it is necessary to have several Police Officers on horseback, come on boys and gals in blue, get it together and figure out how to best Police a Hunt gathering...


6) The Blandford Buzz doesn't believe - and probably nor do the vast majority of the public - that drag hunting is a one hundred percent fool proof deterrent that prevents a fox or any other animal that may be in the wrong place at the wrong time and just cannot sum up the physical might to either outrun any hound dog/s or protect itself from being torn and ripped to shreds by a (pack of) hungry virtually crazed hound dog/s - if a fox hound hunting dog has been manipulated into becoming wildly hungry it's probably going to kill whatever quarry crosses its path or it gets scent of...therefore drag hunting should not be viewed as a solution.

Now if today's said hunt resulted in something like this being torn to shreds then so be it (sorry Basil)

However if the hunt which took place today between Manston and Child Okeford resulted in a live fox being killed then Dorset Hunt you would all have blood on your hands and if as a Hunt collectively you are turning a blind eye to the law and still pursuing foxes to their deaths, you will get caught - no pun intended...