We met up with the (becoming regular, this) Midlands Crew from several Sab groups to do our best to prevent the Teme Valley Minkhounds from taking life today. We moved in to the hunts meet point at the Bridge pub at Stanford Bridge in Worcestershire. As soon as we put 40+ sabs on the ground, the hunt moved out. A couple of vehicles stayed with the meet, receiving some handsome accolades from the pub landlady, who was reading the registration numbers of our vehicles into a phone at shriek level. The huntsman bolted with the dogs very soon after our arrival - so, of course, a van full of sabs followed. He got the hounds out, flapped about for ten minutes and put the hounds back into the sheep trailer they were using. Much flapping ensued, but in the end the dog trailer was pulled onto the main road by a very indecisive driver who initially went to turn right (towards the kennels) but turned left - followed by a convoy of sab vehicles. A pursuit followed ... tepid for much of the time, it made it to lukewarm when the huntsman overtook a cyclist on a blind bend, over double white lines and damn nearly clipped the cyclist as he pulled back in. But it was never, ever, hot pursuit :-( Trundling along, we were a bit startled when the game changed: the dog transport hauled on the brakes and squeaked to a halt (those poor dogs in the trailer) so we had to stop too. The Police car coming the other way stopped too. A discussion took place, while traffic built up in both directions. After some few minutes, we all moved off again - at least, as far as Stourport-On-Severn, where the whole circus came to a halt as the original Panda car returned, blues and twos agogo, to be joined by another similar vehicle, a BMW X5, a Transit and a riot van(!!!) We were all pulled over and subjected to the usual vehicle/document/driver checks - but so was the hound transport. A couple of our vehicles avoided the net by use of skilful driving and sab intuition, but we all lurked around the thoroughly jammed-up town centre for about 45 minutes. Eventually we all moved on - to the nearest petrol station, where the hound transport had to go and fill up, assisted by his new bestest friends, West Mercia Police. Another 20 minutes passed with many comings and goings, as the opposition formulated a plan. Their plan turned out to be return to the kennels - which he could have easily done, by turning right away from the meet, as he originally intended, before turning left and taking us on a tour of Worcestershire. Some 45 minutes later, we were approaching the kennels - which were already under observation by a van full of sabs and had been for some considerable time. The whole convoy slowed and C.W.McCall would have been suitably impressed, as they even had a Bear In The Air, as the song goes :-) The hound transport was allowed through, then the Police 4x4 drove across and blocked the road. The four sab vehicles parked along the verge, the van by the kennels reported the hounds return and that was that. Well, almost. A standoff ensued, with the hunt blocked in their kennels, 10 Police vehicles and the helicopter all hung around like bad smells on a Summers day - while the sabs casually disported themselves along verges, enjoying the vast improvement in the weather and drying socks on van roofs. The Sun, you know, shines upon the righteous. We got a bit sweaty/glowed/perspired, according to our leanings. Once administrative matters were sorted out, the mood lightened and we all went our various routes home. Our thanks are due to the sab vans that made space for us today, to our colleagues, our siblings in black and camo who made the whole experience less than torrid - and to West Mercia Police, who showed that Police budgets are really under no strain at all, managing to furnish the hunt with an escort (OK, it was an Astra) back to the kennels, 10+ vehicles and 15-odd coppers - and hey, dont forget the three hours of helicopter time without turning a hair in defence of illegal hunting with dogs - which we put a stop to. Voluntarily. Please support your local sab groups, please help Beds&Bucks buy their own vehicle so we arent a drain on our sibling groups. Thank you for reading all of this, stay tuned for other viewpoints and subsequent chapters :-) gogetfunding/project/vehicle-for-beds-bucks-hunt-sabs
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 21:21:02 +0000
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