Do you remember the awful story of the pet cat belonging to Mr and Mrs Atkinson being killed by out of control hounds before Christmas? You should do as it made most of the TV bulletins and national newspapers. Well quite incredibly less than a month later the owners of the cat have had yet more problems with a hunt!
Yesterday hounds belonging to the Staintondale Hunt were unsupervised and out of control on property belonging to Mr and Mrs Atkinson despite an assurance from the hunt that following last year’s tragedy they would notify the Atkinson’s if they were going to be in the area.
So thoughtless is this latest havoc that it is difficult to imagine the distress, alarm and harassment the Atkinson’s must be feeling. Which is of course very interesting when we consider the definition of anti-social behaviour in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998:
Acting in a manner that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm
or distress to one or more persons not of the same household.
Hot on the heels of this incident we learn of the following stupidity:
A hound taking part in a hunt on Saturday died after being struck by a passenger train.
The accident happened at about 11.45am when it is understood that a number of hounds from the Cottesmore Hunt strayed onto the railway line in the Stapleford area near Wyfordby Church.
A Network Rail spokesperson said that the train driver of the 10.22am train from Birmingham New Street to Stansted Airport reported that he thought he had struck a number of dogs on the line.
Readers of this blog will be aware that hounds and trains do not mix but sadly the irresponsible owners of these dogs do not seem to have got the message and I doubt this will be the last time we hear such a sad and ultimately avoidable news story.
So there you have it, 2012 begins exactly where 2011 left off; you couldn’t make it up.