An anti-hunting campaigner claims to have filmed the moment an Atherstone Hunt supporter allegedly slashed her tyre with a knife during a roadside clash.
The woman, who has asked not to be named, alleges her dashcam footage shows a supporter of a local hunting group pulling out a small silver knife as he approaches her car on the A444 in Leicestershire.
In a dashcam footage filmed on the side of the road, a man can be seen walking towards a vehicle
The 40-year-old, who filmed the incident on November 1, is part of the West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs – a campaign group which monitors and films hunting in the region.
Her video later goes on to show a large group of hounds holding up traffic before a third part of the video shows her confronting two men about her deflated tyre.
She said: ‘I came across hunt support cars on the side of the road and the riders were in the road, it’s a very busy main road.
‘I could see the huntsman hounds on my right in some fields so I pulled over and I could see that they were going to come onto the main road.
‘I was alerting the hunt staff to try to stop this because it’s dangerous.
‘There’s road users and if you’re following a trail there would be no need for you to be near a main road – that’s just reckless.
‘I went back towards my vehicle when the hounds were in the road and I could hear a really loud hissing noise.
‘I guessed that my tyre had been done because of the noise because that’s what happens when a tyre is being dramatically deflated.
‘From my in-car camera you can see that he comes directly, obviously with intent, across the road towards the vehicle and you can see him get into his pocket and pull out a silver object which clearly looks like a knife of some description.’
The protester believes the alleged vandal did not realise he was being filmed when he slashed the tyre because she was away from her vehicle.
And the woman, who has campaigned against hunting for 11 years, said she was trying to get the hunting group’s dogs out of the main road at the time of the incident.
In her video another hunt supporter can be seen filming the woman as she confronts the two men about her flat tyre – with the pair denying any involvement.
The hunt saboteur said: ‘I thought it was him that had done my tyre because he was the only person around my van, but it wasn’t until I got home and looked at the car footage that I caught him.
‘As I panned round with my footage from the road you can see that he’s the only person that’s around my vehicle the whole time.’
Trail hunting was introduced after live fox hunting was banned across England in 2004.
A scent is manually laid for dogs to follow in an attempt to replicate the traditional version of the sport.
However, many campaigners allege animals are still killed during the meets and regularly protest against them across the UK.
The campaigner said: ‘I’ve always just thought chasing and hunting animals – sentient beings – for sport is abhorrent and hideous.
‘I just don’t get what anyone gets out of wanting to chase an animal to exhaustion to tear it apart and suffer extreme pain and torture.
‘All the excuses they use are always blown out of the water and their arguments never stand up – it’s immoral and I just don’t get it.
‘Unfortunately this type of behaviour is not uncommon, rather than put us off monitoring their activities it just makes us more determined.’
A spokesman for the hunt declined to comment on the incident.
A spokesman for Leicestershire Police confirmed a 51-year-old man has been charged with criminal damage and will appear before Leicester Magistrates’ Court on December 22.
Hunt Details:
Atherstone Hunt
Source: Mail Online
