North Tawton residents have raised concerns about the behaviour of a nearby hunt after some reported hounds entering gardens and photos of dead foxes appearing on social media after a recent meet.

At a meeting last week, North Tawton Town Council debated a report from a member of the public who said that the Eggesford Hunt’s activities had overrun without permission onto a housing association field and, following the end of the meet, had seen photos of dead foxes and cubs posted on Facebook.

This has sparked worries that the group may be illegally hunting foxes and trespassing.

In response to these concerns, North Tawton Town Council agreed to report the hunt’s activity to the police and make an online complaint to the hunt itself.

Following this, other residents and the Devon County Hunt Saboteurs have now spoken out against the Eggesford Hunt’s behaviour.

Julian and Joan Tisdale said: “We have wildlife, domestic animals and young children here all of whom were put at risk last season by out of control hunting hounds running riot on several occasions in pursuit of foxes.

“Needless to say...it was hugely alarming and distressful to us and our family.”

Another member of the public described the hunt’s behaviour as an “absolute disgrace.”

They added that they had experienced “endless problems with the hunters” and had spoken to the police about the group before.

The Devon County Hunt Saboteurs said in a statement: “We were not present on this day and didn’t witness the events described but we heard about it at the time and find none of this surprising. It’s consistent with what we witness from the Eggesford Hunt on a regular basis.”

The spokesperson added: “[The Eggesford Hunt] treat the countryside as their private playground, causing havoc on public roads and in people’s back gardens.”

However, the Eggesford Hunt has denied any such behaviour and has said that it conducts lawful hunting activities.

A spokesperson for the Eggesford Hunt said:“The Eggesford Hunt conducts lawful hunting activities to comply with the Hunting Act and works tirelessly to liaise with landowners and local residents to ensure that the hunt retains a good relationship within the community in which it plays such an important part.”

“We look forward to welcoming people to our Boxing Day meet being held at Oaklands Farm, Okehampton, at 11am, where everyone can meet the hounds and representatives from the hunt.”

Under the Hunting Act which came into practice in 2005, it is illegal to hunt most wild mammals with dogs unless under very specific circumstances including stalking and flushing out a wild mammal with no more than two dogs. The wild mammal must be shot straight away.

Today, many hunts undertake trail hunting in which an animal-based scent is laid out by a member of the hunt along a specific route for the dogs to follow. Some hunts also carry drag hunting in which the dogs are trained to follow an artificial scent, such as aniseed.