HUNTSMEN have apologised to East Yorkshire residents who feared their pets would be torn to pieces when a pack of hounds rampaged through private gardens in a village near Driffield.
Villagers in Aike say up to 30 hounds ran amok in their gardens, sparking phone calls to police and leaving many residents fear for their own safety.
Police are making inquiries into the incident, which happened on Saturday.
Leaders of the Holderness Hunt, which owns the hounds, have apologised to villagers. They say they lost control of the hounds for about 10 minutes while attending to two horses stuck in a ditch.
Joint master of the hunt, Chris Richardson, said they were hunting within the new law which restricts hunting with dogs and this was the first time for several seasons they had had complaints.
One of the villagers, Peter Dawson, said his wife, Elaine, had been very upset at seeing the hounds running through their garden.
He added: “My wife suffers from a heart condition and does not need any stress. She happened to look out of the window to see about 30 hounds in our back garden. They had come through the hedge.
“We have dogs and cats but fortunately my wife had been on her way out and had brought them inside, which is a stroke of luck because I don’t know what would have happened if the hounds had met the dogs. The hounds just ran amok. My wife was very upset and so were a lot of other people in the village.”
Mr Dawson’s daughter-in-law, Louise Dawson, said she had seen about 20 to 30 hounds in her in-laws’ garden.
She said: “They are big dogs and they were jumping over the fence as if it was not there. They were all over the front of our drive, all round my car and the front of my house. It was pretty upsetting and the hounds were in the village for about 10 or 15 minutes before anyone from the hunt came in,” she said.
Villager Sue Rogers, said her cat had run off when the hounds ran into her garden.
She said: “About seven of the hounds were going manic in my front garden.
“The cat was absolutely terrified and did not come back until late at night. He had a lucky escape but if my dogs had been in the front garden and a fight had broken out there would have been a bloodbath.”
Mr Richardson said the huntsmen lost control of the hounds for a short time while attending to the horses.
“We lost the hounds for about 10 minutes and they got into the gardens. We are in contact with the residents and apologies have been made,” he said.
“We did not know anything about it at the time. The hounds came back and we did not realise they had been in people’s gardens. If there had been any damage we would have recompensed people.”
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Source: Yorkshire Post
