Garth and South Berks hunt exotic birds

Saturday 26th February. Peppard Common near Reading.

"We had been following the hunt for a couple of uneventful hours when we saw, what appeared to be a pair of ostriches feeding in a garden. If we see any pets or small animals we usually have a chat with the owner and warn them to keep a lookout as the hunt is in the area.

We were chatting with the owner, who was very anti-hunt and telling us that the birds were in fact a 
pair of valuable South American rheas, when we heard the hounds in full cry.

The next thing we saw was the pair of rheas which seemed to have regained the power of flight, albeit temporarily, closely followed by a pack of hounds, streaming out of the garden. The owner was naturally very concerned for the safety of the birds especially as one of the hounds had blood over its face. Despite this concern, the huntsman continued to cast his hounds through the woodland where the birds were still running free and possibly injured.

The selfish and arrogant behaviour of these 'sporting gentlemen' was only matched by the local Thames Valley Police 'stewards' who shadowed and harassed us whilst we helped the owner search for his lost birds."

Fur or fowl?  The Garth huntsman, Peter Swann, can't tell the difference.