This morning, The Times reports that staghounds accompanying a stag hunt savaged a pregnant pet alpaca near King’s Nymptom, Nort Devon, UK.
The police are investigating the stag hunt. The pet, pregnant alpaca’s name was Ruby. She was owned by Lucy Aylett and her husband Nick Stringer. They run Rosebud Alpacas, which is a business offering yoga sessions with alpacas. They also make rugs from their fleeces.
There were not at their farm when the attack occurred. It was being looked after by colleagues. They received a call on January 1 from the chairman of the Tiverton Staghounds who told them that his dogs “had attacked our alpaca and that the vet needed to euthanise her”. She didn’t need euthanising because she died at the scene with her unborn offspring.
They are traumatised by it. Aylett said: “It would have been an agonising death. She was pregnant and her unborn baby died as well. Luckily the cria [baby alpaca] she was nursing managed to escape. We are totally devastated and shocked. It has been traumatising for not just us but our neighbours who were looking after the farm.”
She added that, “the hunt had not informed us or our neighbours that they would be out that day and clearly the hounds were out of control, otherwise Ruby would still be with us. Ruby was a beloved pet. We’ve been offered compensation but nothing can bring Ruby back.”
Mr Stringer said that villagers saw a group of at least 18 hounds about the time that Ruby was killed. If that’s true it would be a breach of the regulations regarding staghounds. The Hunting Act 2004 which outlawed the hunting of mammals with dogs allows hunters to use up to two dogs to find wounded deer and to flush out prey from undergrowth to be shot as soon as possible thereafter or for observation or study of wild animals.
Mr Stringer added: “We can’t be sure what happened. We were in the car on our way home when we got the call from a member of the hunt to say Ruby had been attacked. It was very traumatic. I was shocked and angry and Lucy was crying. We still can’t believe it has happened.”
The Devon and Cornwall police confirmed that they are investigating and a representative said: “Police are investigating a report in relation to hounds that attacked an alpaca which died as a result of its injuries at a property in the King’s Nympton area between 10:30 AM and 12:35 PM on January 1.
They are asking for witnesses to come forward particularly those with dash cam footage which might help with their enquiries and you can call them on 101 quoting reference number 50240001262.
