An injured hunt dog has been put down after being hit by a wagon on a busy road at Duddon. The hound had been trying to cross the A51 by the Headless Woman pub during an outing with the Cheshire Hunt on Saturday afternoon. Annie Haze, of Chester and Clwyd Hunt Saboteurs who saw the incident, said a passer-by managed to put the dog out of its misery.

Cheshire Police spokeswoman Jacqui Hanson confirmed that a dog had been killed in the incident. Miss Haze said: “We were following the hunt and the houndsman took the majority of the dogs across the road. It was total chaos because the rest of the dogs tried to join the others and then one was killed.”

Rushton resident Mrs Pauline Windsor, joint master of the Cheshire Hounds, said: “The hound had strayed from the pack and unfortunately there was an accident on the road. There was a policeman there all the time and he agreed it was an accident. The hound died within five minutes.”

By Lynwen Hughes in the Chester Chronicle, 19th January 1990