FOXHOUNDS ‘ran riot’ through a village near Wellington earlier this month, terrorising local residents and forcing primary school children to be taken to safety indoors, an anti-hunting organisation claimed this week.

The League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) said the incident happened in Oake when between 20 and 30 ‘unattended hounds’ were seen running loose in fields next to Oake, Bradford and Nynehead Primary School at lunchtime on Monday, October 7.

A LACS spokesperson said although ‘trail hunting’ remained legal, it appeared a fox hunt was taking place, an activity which was banned when the Hunting Act came into force in February, 2005.

The spokesperson said pupils were in the school playground at the time and teachers had to evacuate them so they could shelter indoors.

They said: “Some of the hounds were seen being hit by cars and vans on the main road running through the village, and dog walkers felt intimidated as the hounds rampaged through local fields.

“Hunt horns were heard in the distance before a terrier man, individuals employed by hunts to dig up foxes that have fled underground, arrived on a quad bike, in Taunton Vale Harriers branded clothing, and attempted to round up the hounds.”

Local resident Melissa Nutton told the LACS how she was walking her French bulldogs in a field near the school when she was surrounded by the hunt hounds.

Ms Nutton said: “I was absolutely terrified and fearful for my dogs, especially my little one Remy, and have never felt threatened like that before.

“They are still hunting, I am sure.”

Another resident, Mary Parker, said she saw the hounds spilling onto the busy main road through Oake.

Ms Parker said: “It was very disturbing and upsetting.

“I really felt for the poor hounds but their behaviour could have caused a serious road traffic accident.”

Former veterinary nurse Rachael Pearson said she saw some of the hounds limping and being loaded into a car after the incident, and she filmed a passenger punching one of the dogs.

Ms Pearson said: “As somebody who works with animals, I found the treatment of the hounds absolutely disgusting.

“It is shocking that fox hunting is still going on in this day and age and it must have been so upsetting for the schoolchildren.

“I could not sleep that night.”

LACS senior campaigns manager John Petrie said: “It is clear that a fox hunt was taking place and wreaked havoc on this otherwise peaceful village, scaring and intimidating local residents and school kids.

“It is also clear they were not trail hunting, the discredited excuse commonly used by hunts as a smokescreen to hide old fashioned illegal fox hunting, as who on earth would lay a trail through a village and next to a school.

“It is time for change and for fox hunting laws to be strengthened, with so called trail hunting banned, loopholes in the law removed, and custodial sentences introduced for those that break the law.”

Mr Petrie said the timing of the incident, which had been reported to the police, was consistent with the practice of cub hunting in which hunt hounds are taught to kill young foxes in preparation for the fox hunting season beginning in November.

Trail hunting has been described by Devon and Cornwall’s most senior police officer, temporary Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman, who has responsibility for fox hunting crime, as a ‘smokescreen for illegal fox hunting’, which he said was ‘prolific’.

Mr Longman said: “The police and courts need new powers to tackle the scourge of fox hunting so that this brutal, sordid blood sport is consigned to the history books once and for all.”

The Oake incident was reported to the LACS animal crimewatch service, which allows the public to report incidents of animal cruelty.

The service can be reached by calling 0300 444 1234 or emailing [email protected] or via WhatsApp at 0755 278 8247.

A Harriers spokesperson told the Wellington Weekly the league had ‘fabricated’ a story out of the incident.

The spokesperson said a trail was laid away from Oake and going toward Preston Bowyer, near the 30 mph B3227 road, when a number of young hounds were spooked off the trail by machinery on a farm.

They said: “I was there, the league were not. It was three or four hounds milling around, no more than five.

“There were no foxes being chased, there were no children being terrorised. We were not near the school.

“Some PCSOs were there and helped us to get these young puppies into a car.”

The spokesperson said hunts frequently had to put up with allegations being made by ‘people with grudges’.

An Avon and Somerset Constabulary spokesperson told the Wellington Weekly: “We received a call at about 11.25 am on Monday, October 7, to report there were approximately a dozen or so hounds loose in various parts of Oake.

“We were told a small number of dogs had been struck by a vehicle or vehicles and therefore officers sought to slow down traffic and keep the animals safe by stopping them running into the road.

“A member of the public assisted officers to identify the dogs’ owner, and after a short amount of time a man arrived on a quadbike who had the dogs rounded up and collected.

“Officers then left the scene at about 1.20 pm.

“A few hours later we were contacted by a member of the public who informed us a number of primary schoolchildren in the area had been taken inside while the incident occurred.

“As a result, a member of the local neighbourhood team visited the school this week to provide reassurance.”

School headteacher Becky Barnes did not respond to a request for a comment.