Tiverton Boxing Day Hunt 2024

The Tiverton hunt has been met by protestors again who have vowed to continue until the Boxing Day meet is stopped.
A motion narrowly failed at a recent Tiverton Town Council meeting when the mayor cast the deciding vote calling for the authority to oppose trail hunts and the Tiverton Foxhounds meet outside Tiverton Pannier Market.
Even if the motion had been successful, the town council has no power to stop a hunt meet given it does not happen on land that it owns.
Councillor Chris Berry who led the motion as part of the Local Independents For Tiverton (LIFT) political party, spoke at the Boxing Day meet on Thursday, December 26.
He said: I think it’s safe to say the anti-hunt movement is going well. Admittedly, there are quite a few people who may be afraid to turn up and join us today as we’ve had threats in the past.
“We are pleased to see the police have turned up today, so hopefully, it will be a nice peaceful event, and everyone can do their thing and move on peacefully.
“There’s a lot of movement on this, and I notice there are three or four more groups set up in Tiverton to protest the hunt and oppose it in various different ways. It’s a strong movement now, and I don’t see hunting in Tiverton lasting much longer.”
He promised to bring back a motion to the council in 2025 and hoped the Liberal Democrats on the council, who in the majority voted against his motion, would back it.
“They voted against my motion and then the following day posted that they were all totally against hunting and they all want a ban which I thought was interesting,” Cllr Berry said.
Cllr Berry also questioned the hunt meet saying: “You will notice they had an awful lot of dogs. I believe the legal limit in Tiverton is six dogs, and they must be on leads, but I don’t see that. They didn’t appear to be actively hunting when they came through, so I’m pretty sure they’d committed a criminal offence.
“The message to hunt supporters is that do they want to support criminal activity across the UK? These are not the best of people, and we’ve seen examples across social media recently of the hunt supporters stealing Christmas decorations. These are not the nicest people in Tiverton, so hopefully, we can move on and make Tiverton a nicer place for everyone. Family events on Boxing Day will be lovely in the town.”
This marks the first Boxing Day since the Labour Party came to power, pledging in its manifesto to “ban trail hunting.” Trail hunting involves dragging a scent-infused rag across the countryside, which a pack of hounds then searches for and follows.
Additionally, The Telegraph reports Ministers are also considering higher fines for those who break the existing law in England and Wales, making it easier to prosecute under the Hunting Act.
Boxing Day hunt meets took place in the wake of growing anger at changes to inheritance tax for farms announced in the recent Budget, resulting in dozens of protests and outcry from farming and rural organisations.
Kelvin Thomas from the Tiverton Foxhounds addressed the crowd saying: “It’s fantastic to see you all here today. As you probably already know, we’ve already been on the front page of the Tiverton Gazette, and we’re likely to be on there again for a good reason. That is because of your continued to support for us.
“ I appreciate on a worldwide stage the lunatics are running asylum but that does not prevent us from continuing to run this hunt. It’s been here for now, carrying the Tiverton label for just around 180 years, as having a registered Tiverton pack.
“There are one or two people that have been here for a lot less than that, trying to explain to us how we should operate. Thanks for your input, but we’re pretty happy to run it as we see it and we’re very happy to come here at this time of year. The crowd get bigger every year and we are respectful of your support.
“I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and a peaceful New Year to you and I wish you all the best of health.”

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