Hunt hounds' deaths 'horrific' says Corby councillor after loose dogs killed on A43

People caught-up in a road traffic incident that saw the death of at least three hunt hounds have expressed their shock seeing the aftermath of the dogs being run into by vehicles.

The incident is believed to have started when The Pytchley with Woodland Hunt members met for trail hunting – where hounds follow a pre-set trail across fields.

But the hounds ended up on the A43 – the main road linking Kettering to Northampton – leading to a large section of road being closed off near the Hannington crossroads.

A unitary councillor for North Northants Council, who previously attempted to ban trail hunting on publicly-owned land, has spoken out against the disruption caused by the hunt’s actions.

Cllr Alison Daziel (Lab, Corby West) said: “This is an horrific incident resulting in the death of a number of innocent fox hounds. They did not stand a chance against the HGVs and other road users on the A43 at the time.

"The huntsman should have kept his hounds under control and kept well away from the main road.

“In 2021, I put a motion to full council in NNC to ask for trail hunting not to be permissible on council land. This was voted down with the usual rhetoric that ‘hunts don’t traverse council land, we don’t need a policy, there’s no harm being done, no animals are harmed in trail hunting’, yet here is proof that they hunt where they like, with no regard to other road users or indeed their own hounds. They are a total disgrace.”

Dozens of motorists were caught in the road closure for about one-and-a-half hours.

Cllr Dalziel's motion followed on from landowners National Trust and Natural Resources Wales voting to halt trail hunting on their land.

Drivers and passengers helped move the dead hounds from the road and reported seeing members of the hunt move the dogs.

One witness said: “One of the dogs went running down Red House Lane. The bodies of a couple of dogs were being put into their L200.

"One dog went running down the 60mph road down towards Hannington. I did inform them that one of their dogs were on the loose. I hadn't realised that anything happened. I couldn't grab the dog unfortunately.”

A spokesman for the Northants Hunt Saboteurs said: “We were contacted by distressed motorists who had seen a number of hunting hounds lying dead on the A43 road between Broughton and Sywell.”

The spokesman said that if the Pytchley Hunt was genuinely following a pre-laid trail ‘like they often claim’ then why did a number of their hounds end up being killed on the A43.

And they are calling on those responsible for these ‘tragic’ events to be ‘swiftly dealt with’ by Northants Police.

Officers from Northamptonshire Police Rural Crime Team are appealing for witnesses to the incident on the A43 carriageway, near to the Hannington Crossroads, shortly after 4pm yesterday (Monday, February 19).

A spokesman said: “At least three hounds were reported to have sadly been killed after being in collision with a number of vehicles, which prompted officers to close the carriageway to ensure that the remaining hounds were able to be safely removed from the vicinity and returned to the owners.

“The road re-opened at about 5.30pm however, the closure of the road caused major traffic disruption in the area, and we would like to thank everyone for their patience while we dealt with this incident.

“Officers from the Rural Crime Team will today (Tuesday, February 20), continue with their enquiries to establish the circumstances which led to this incident and are appealing for witnesses to please get in touch.

“Witnesses or anyone with information, including dash-cam footage of the incident, are asked to call Northamptonshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 361 of February 19, 2024.”

The hunt organisers have been contacted for a comment.