A fox hunt - similar to the hunt held in Studdal by West Street and Tickham.

By Beth Robson

Police are investigating reports of a fox hunt in Studdal where a savaged male fox is believed to have been killed by hounds.

Shocking pictures of the animal were sent to the Mercury by Christine Richardson, who saw foxhounds racing down Strakers Hill in the village on Wednesday last week, but the images are too distressing to print.

She believes the fox – who has been named Freddie by locals and who loos like the fox pictured right – was killed by the dogs from the hunt. This is yet to be confirmed by police who have taken his body away for forensic tests.

Mrs Richardson, of Homestead Lane, said residents were alerted by the sound of baying hounds at about 8am.

A horn was sounded and riders were also seen wearing red jackets in a cabbage field.

Police say West Street and Tickham organised the Studdal hunt. Officers have been speaking to its hunt master Rosemary Cleverdon.

When the Mercury tried to speak to Mrs Cleverdon, she hung up twice.

Mrs Richardson said: "A gentleman at the bottom of the road saw a fox running across a field at the back of my house being chased by dogs, and there were riders in the cabbage field."

The hounds pushed in the fence of one of her neighbours and barged into her garden. The fix was found in a field on the other side of her broken fence after the hunt with his intestines ripped out.

"He had been mauled all over," She said.

In England, the hunting and killing of foxes has been against the law since the 2004 Hunting Act came into place in 2005.

Hunts still meet regularly in England with organisers laying a scent for the dogs to track.