So on Boxing Day, Rutland County Council hosted The Cottesmore Hunt despite all the points we'd raised. There's some positives to take from this though; the Council Leader admitted to opposing bloodsports, the petition has grown (and it's not going anywhere) and despite rumours that the Hunt were trying to regain use of their traditional Boxing Day stomping ground, Cutts Close, which Oakham Town Council hilariously prevented them from using last year, they didn't get it back. Ouch. On the Facebook posts from The Rutland Times and The Rutland & Stamford Mercury (http://bit.ly/2iFIi6O & http://bit.ly/2irMy6A), very few people were taken in by the articles which mentioned little more than the 'spectacle'*, and for the dwindling group of deluded folk that are still defending The Cottesmore Hunt on the grounds of pest control, you should know that they actively encourage foxes to bolster the amount of 'quarry' they have to hunt, and always have... for example, read P6 of this report: http://bit.ly/2hxx2Jo. If anyone is interested, the articles from The Rutland Times and The Rutland & Stamford Mercury, but as we've commented before they are identical: http://bit.ly/2hpLoqs & http://bit.ly/2iFOWK9. There's not yet been any articles from The Rutland Times and The Rutland & Stamford Mercury offering the typical white-wash following the event saying how 'popular', 'fantastic' and 'legal' the gathering was, but there has been photos & videos of the day on the Oakham Cottesmore Hunt Boxing Day page on Facebook (http://bit.ly/2hOPfyo). Thank you to everybody that's supported us. The petition will remain open and hopefully next year Rutland County Council will see sense. Keep signing; the video of what The Cottesmore Hunt really get up to when they think nobody is watching has been attached to this update as a reminder... * - Interestingly, they also mentioned that The Fitzwilliam Hunt were meeting in Peterborough. This Hunt has its former huntsman & current bird of prey handler facing charges for offences under The Hunting Act 2004 as well as for cruelty to a protected species, something conveniently missed out of the articles along with The Cottesmore Hunt's wildlife crime prosecution. Clearly, the other petition we're running to encourage the media to show the reality of fox hunting in their coverage of Boxing Day & New Year fox hunts isn't being heeded by these papers... but there's still time to sign before the New Year meets! http://bit.ly/2hlNqcz