The League Against Cruel Sports has won a conviction in a private prosecution against two members of the Quantock Staghounds for illegally hunting and killing deer with dogs for entertainment on Exmoor last February. (The Times).

Huntsman Richard Down 41, and whipper-in Adrian Pullivant, 37 were each fined £500 and ordered to pay £1000 costs. Both men, backed by the Countryside Alliance, claimed that they were “exempt-hunting” which requires that the deer are shot as soon as possible after being flushed from cover by dogs, a defence described by the judge as “disingenuous” and “an attempt to deceive”.

Meanwhile, in another case of cruelty for entertainment five men from Birmingham have been given four to five months in prison and two others have received suspended sentences after an undercover investigation by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) revealed their involvement in a dog-fighting ring which bred, sold and fought dogs at a Midlands venue. Four men were also banned from keeping dogs for ten years and three for five years.