The Cottesmore Hunt will meet in Cutts Close, Oakham on Boxing Day
The Cottesmore Hunt will gather in Cutts Close, Oakham on Boxing Day.
Last year more than 500 hunt supporters attended the meet, which has been going on for the past 354 years.
However, last month councillors representing Rutland’s second town, Uppingham, banned the hunt from meeting in its Market Place on New Year’s Day.
Furthermore, in a poll carried out by The Mercury online 12,514 readers (57 per cent) said they didn’t think the hunt should meet in Uppingham, while 9,308 (42 per cent) said it should. One per cent was ‘undecided’.
Clare Bell, Cottesmore Hunt secretary, said: “People really enjoy meeting the hounds and talking to the people on horses.
“It’s really important for the Cottesmore Hunt to be seen in the town.”
At 11.30am on Boxing Day, the group will start a trail hunt. This legal method of ‘hunting’ with hounds involves a fox-scented trail being laid by a horserider. The hounds then follow the trail through the countryside.
Clare said: “It’s a really good opportunity to see the hounds work out the scent - it’s what they’re bred to do.”
Each year hunt saboteurs turn up to protest against the meet, but Clare believes they don’t understand how their hunt is carried out.
“We don’t hunt foxes anymore,” she said, adding that the hunt has stewards to protect participants from abuse.
“It’s very sad that people who don’t understand something feel they need to harass and bully people doing something that’s not against the law.”
Clare described anti-hunt tactics as ‘quite horrendous’ and believes they have ‘become more prevalent with the use of social media’.
She said: “People need to understand that by supporting the hunt you’re not supporting anything bad.”
Volunteers from the charity ‘For Rutland’ collect funds at the Boxing Day meet and talk about their support for people with long-term health conditions.
Trish Ruddle, who set up For Rutland, said: “If we lose the hunt we not only lose the chance to meet the public, we lose the chance to collect between £800 and £1,000.”
For Rutland pays for two specialist advisors, based at Citizens Advice, who provide free, non-medical advice.
Trish said: “A lot of people would miss out if the hunt meet was ever cancelled.”
Town council bans Cottesmore Hunt from Uppingham Market Place on New Year's Day