Eight-month-old kitten 'ripped to pieces' by dogs on Christmas hunt in Leeds

Tiger the kitten (left), who was reportedly killed by dogs who broke free from a hunt in Leeds. Picture shows generic image of hunt. Credit: Cat Action Trust/PA

Tiny Tiger was 'ripped to pieces' by several dogs who had broken away from the party near Bramham Park on Christmas Eve and snuck into the owner's garden.

Tiger's brother, Felix, was also in the garden at the time and was reportedly left petrified by the attack, although was luckily spared by the dogs.

Both kittens were born in May and re-homed by Cat Action Trust 1977 in Leeds in August this year.

Tiger the kitten, who charity branch manager Sheila Pickersgill says was killed by foxhounds who broke away from the pack during a Christmas Eve hunt in Leeds. Picture: Cat Action Trust 1977

Branch owner Sheila Pickersgill has since spoken with Tiger's owners and said the attack has left her so horrified she 'can't stop picturing it' when she closes her eyes.

Sheila said: "There were about four or five dogs who were chasing foxes and broke away from the pack to go into the woman's garden. She was upstairs at the time and didn't know what was going on until she came out and found it.

"The party must have heard the commotion but they didn't even go to look and tell the owners what had happened."

Sheila said the attack was so violent, only pieces of fur were left.

A hunting party was allegedly chasing a fox when Tiger was killed. Picture shows generic image of a hunt. Credit: PA

She added: "When I go to bed all I can think of is this poor kitten and how terrified he must have been.

"He was the friendliest little thing. He would just purr if you looked at him."

Fox hunting was outlawed by the Hunting Act in 2004.

Luke Steele, who is a Leeds-based hunt monitor and spokesperson for the Stop The Shoot campaign, said he was following the hunt on Christmas Eve in order to gather evidence of illegal fox hunting.

Luke said: “It’s absolutely sickening to see a fox being chased to exhaustion by a pack of baying hounds across Bramham Park, an area popular with festival-goers who would be horrified to learn of the cruelty inflicted on hunted wildlife at the venue.

“Bramham Park has important questions to answer about why it hosted the fox hunt in the first place when warned just days before about it.

“The Hunting Act is clear that landowners have a responsibility to ensure wildlife is not chased or killed by hounds on their land and those facilitating hunting could easily find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

“Bramham Park should now fulfil its obligation to prevent wildlife crime and maintain strong community relations by no longer inviting the hunt in light of the events on Christmas Eve.”

Nick Pritchard, Resident Agent at Bramham Park Estate, said: “The hunt in question requested permission to meet at Bramham Park on Christmas Eve; they were allowed to onto the estate on the understanding that their activities fell within the law.

"We have been made aware of a serious allegation that the law has been broken and we will co-operate fully with the Police in their investigation.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman confirmed they had received a report relating to the incident, saying: "We received information in relation to an allegation of illegal hunting on December 24 and are now currently assessing the situation."