Police investigate hunting allegations after sheep dies in south Northants fox hounds incident

The incident happened on Saturday after the Grafton Hunt meet, reportedly at Crockwell Farm.

Villagers expressed anger and incredulity on the community Facebook page after a farmer said the hounds had scattered a field of heavily pregnant sheep, causing some to enter a river in which one drowned.

Penny Little, a hunt monitor for the Grafton Hunt Watch said: “The hounds ran through sheep which were terrified and ran into the river - one sheep was killed. The sheep were pregnant ewes and this incident may well cause some of the sheep to abort. One resident saw the terrified hunted fox run through their garden.”

Members of a social media group urged residents to respond to a police request for CCTV footage or recordings of the incident in which the hunt was ‘charging down the road’.

The farmer said: "They are our sheep. All heavy in lamb scanned carrying three and due in about three weeks.”

She said the sheep were now mixed with a neighbour’s flock and one was dead in the river.

“Just hope they don't abort through being stressed,” she said.

Another villager posted: "They are neighbours to our village and really should know better. Appalling behaviour.”

And another said: "They need to respect the surrounding area not (literally) ride rough shod over it… I will be writing a strongly-worded letter to the master.”

Others reported the hunt ‘flying’ down Brook Street and said it was fortunate that children were not playing on the Green at the time. They reported two separate groups and some stragglers; ‘going very fast’. The hunt was described as ‘a law unto themselves’.

One said: "Until they are held to account they will continue to rampage out of control and ruin our peace.”

Charles Smyth-Osbourne, joint master of the Grafton, said: “The Grafton Hunt was conducting lawful trail hunting activities in the Moreton Pinkney area on Saturday and is fully aware of an incident which occurred.

"Hunt officials have been in close contact with the owner of the sheep following the incident and has apologised unreservedly to all those affected.

A Northamptonshire Police spokeswoman, said: “We are aware of this incident which was reported to us on January 14 at about 3.30pm.

“Officers from our Rural Crime Team are making enquiries into the incident including making contact with the owner of the sheep as well as the original caller.”

The spokesman said that alleged illegal hunting by the Grafton would form part of the team’s enquiries.

A League Against Cruel Sports report last autumn, Hunt Havoc, calculated the human cost of hunting with hounds, based on eye-witness reports that reveal the ‘scale of the havoc hunts are causing across the British countryside’.

The report outlined 310 incidents nationally since 2018 in which hunts were seen ‘chasing and killing animals, marauding on private and public land, intimidating individuals and communities, hunting on railway lines and roads and chasing and sometimes killing livestock and pets’.

Last week Barford St Michael villagers complained of hounds chasing a fox through the village and a Shipston hunt supporter was cautioned by police for taking a hunt saboteur’s car keys and throwing them into a field.