‘Pony puncher’, Sarah Moulds, has been charged with animal cruelty

NEWS AND COMMENT-UK: You may have read Sarah Moulds’s story. I wrote about it some time ago (click here if you wish to read the backstory). It was well discussed in news media. She is a primary school teacher or was. She was a follower of the Cottesmore Hunt. This is a well-known fox hunting group. You can’t fox hunt in Britain any more but you can trail hunt using the scent of a fox. She was a follower. And during one of those hunts she was filmed slapping and kicking a horse who was uncooperative.

Woman foxhunter slaps horse in face and kicks it as it was uncooperative

Woman foxhunter slaps horse in face and kicks it as it was uncooperative. Screenshot.

She was surreptitiously filmed doing this by an anti-hunting activist working for the Hertfordshire Hunt Saboteurs. And the video was posted on social media including Twitter and became viral. The fallout for Sarah Moulds has been devastating. The latest consequence is that she has been charged by the RSPCA for two offences under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. She will be attending the Boston Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

She’s been charged with causing the horse, Bruce, unnecessary suffering by “kicking and hitting him, and for not taking reasonable steps to protect the animal from pain, suffering injury or disease”.

In addition, she lost her job as a primary school teacher (Mowbray Education Trust) and has been removed as a follower from the Cottesmore Hunt.

As you can imagine, there was a public outcry. She’s also been removed from her local branch of the pony club. For someone like me, an avowed anti-hunt advocate, it is good news. I think that it had to happen. It is a clear case of animal cruelty. She was caught red-handed. The RSPCA would be negligent in their duties if they didn’t charge and prosecute her. It is an absolute certainty in my mind that she will be convicted. The event has had a devastating impact on her. You might argue that she has been punished already by the public opprobrium.

Update January 31, 2022: Sarah Moulds has elected to go for a crown court trial with a jury having attended the Magistrates’ Court. Therefore, we will see in the near future a preliminary hearing in preparation for a main trial on the charges of animal cruelty. She clearly intends to defend herself.

Gervais and his cat

Ricky Gervais thinks we live far too long and he can’t wait for humanity to be wiped out

Watching Ricky Gervais talk on this chat show is quite uncomfortable. His comedy is uncomfortable. It is a mixture of ...
Read More
Octopus farm

Animal advocates in despair over cruel plan to farm octopuses in Gran Canaria

NEWS AND OPINION: This is about the ethics of marine wildlife farming, specifically the ethics of farming an intelligent, sentient ...
Read More
A wildlife trophy hunter in Africa and Sir Bill Wiggin MP

African nations complaining about a lack of consultation on UK’s trophy hunting ban

NEWS AND OPINION: Representatives from South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia, countries where most of the trophy hunting takes ...
Read More
Penned sheep on a huge sheep ship journeying from Perth Australia to the Middle East

Sheep ships carrying up to 111,000 sheep for 3-4 weeks are gross breaches of animal welfare

NEWS AND OPINION - PERTH, AUSTRALIA: This is another horror story about how humankind treats animals. Some people don't care ...
Read More
Emma Parker

Drug addicted woman stabbed to death her hamster and ate it on video

NEWS AND COMMENT-GREAT GONERBY, LINCOLNSHIRE, UK: The story is shocking in its level of animal cruelty. The backdrop to this ...
Read More

You may also like...