A distraught cat owner claims she watched in horror as her pet was savaged to death by dogs from the Middleton Hunt.
An animal protection group has called upon fox-hunter Prince Charles to boycott the hunt which operates in the Malton and Wolds area, after about 30 hounds are reported to have run into Rebecca Wood’s garden and pounced on her cat, Snoopy.
Rebecca, 26, said she tried in vain to kick the first dog off, but it paid no attention. And once the rest of the dogs had joined in even a warning shot from her father’s gun failed to frighten off the pack, she claims.
The Campaign for the Protection of Hunted Animals (CPHA) has now called on Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles – who have ridden with the Middleton Hunt – to “consider whether they will ever ride with them again” following the Woods’ experience in Little Kelk, near Driffield, late last month.
Rebecca, an environmental science student, said: “My sisters and brothers bring their children and if this hunt can’t control its dogs I just hope they wouldn’t attack a human. Once one started the rest just dived in. My father has a shotgun for keeping rabbits down. He fired it and they just kept going, which is a frightening thought.
“I was kicking one dog and he would not budge. I was really upset. Snoopy was squealing. Someone from the hunt apologised but that’s not the point.
“We have been asking them not to come through our land for some time but it has happened on several occasions.”
Frank Houghton-Brown, of the Middleton Hunt, said: “It’s hard to know if there’s any basis to this.”
Hunt Details
Source: Gazette & Herald
