HUNTERS FINED FOR ILLEGAL PURSUIT OF DEER

The Times
Simon de Bruxelles

Animal rights campaigners claimed victory yesterday as two men were convicted of illegally hunting deer with dogs.

The two members of the Quantock Staghounds claimed they had been acting within the law as they chased the deer across Exmoor. Richard Down, 44, a huntsman and Adrian Pillivant, 37, a whipperin, were each fined £500 and ordered to pay £1,000 each in costs.

The private prosecution was brought by the League Against Cruel Sports, which filmed the Quantock Staghounds hunting near Holford, Somerset, in February last year.

The men said that the hunt, which resulted in six deer being killed, had been covered by the Hunting Act, which provides for deer to be flushed from cover by dogs if they are shot as soon as reasonably possible.

Judge David Parsons said that the men could not have reasonably believed they were within the law as the deer were chased a considerable distance.

The judge, sitting at Bristol Magistrates’ Court, said: “The defendants were hunting for sport and recreation and are disingenuous in attempting to deceive me into believing that they were exempt-hunting.”

The court was told that the staghounds had been invited to Crowcombe Park, an estate owned by Anthony Trollope-Bellew, where deer had been damaging crops.

The meet was advertised in the press and attracted 17 members on horseback, and followers in 4x4s and quad bikes.

Down, as huntsman and full-time employee of the hunt, met the hunt master, the owner of the land and Pillivant, who was standing in for the regular whipperin, to discuss tactics.

The league argued that the hunt was illegal as it did not fulfil any of the five criteria for exemption. The judge found that the hunt satisfied four criteria: that the deer were flushed from cover; that the hunting prevented or reduced damage caused by the deer; that only two dogs were used on each occasion, and that the dogs were at all times above ground. But it had failed to fulfil the fifth condition, that the deer be shot as quickly as reasonable.

The judge said: “Exempt hunting does not allow for a chase – there was no sign of the deer being shot. In fact it was not possible for them to be shot and Mr Pillivant did not call the hounds off.

“It was obvious to him that the deer were not as soon as possible going to be shot. They should have been called off; they were not.”

The Countryside Alliance, which had backed the men, said that the ruling confused the issue of what was legal and what was not.

Mike Hobday, of the league, said after the case that the law stated that one could not chase with hounds for entertainment, “and we are very grateful that the judge agrees with us”.

Tim Hayden, solicitor for Pillivant and Down, said that they were very disappointed with the result and would appeal.

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