Laurence Dollimore
HUNTERS have hit back after a video of dogs and a deer falling off a cliff during a hunt went viral.
The footage has been blasted by animal welfare groups this morning after being reported by the Olive Press yesterday.
Animal rights political party PACMA blasted the clip, saying: “The cruelty of hunting. A deer and several dogs fall over the edge of a cliff.
“It’s time to demand responsibility from politicians who are insensitive to the suffering and lives of animals.”
Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias tweeted: “The people responsible for this atrocity only have one name; criminals.
“Let’s end this once and for all and punish those who are guilty. A warning, the images are very distressing.”
The incident happened near the village of Herreruela in Caceres.
In the video, dogs can be seen running towards a wounded deer on a cliff edge.
As they all attack, some begin to fall off the edge.
An passerby shouts to the hunter ‘run, the dogs are falling’.
The hunter fails to get to the dogs in time before making a failed attempt at finishing off the deer by stabbing at it with a knife.
More dogs plunge to the bottom of the cliff, followed by the deer, making a loud noise as they hit the ground.
A spokesperson for the Royal Spanish Hunting Federation has since claimed the dogs were treated at the scene before being taken to nearby vets.
They said: “Immediately afterwards the dogs involved were assisted by vets at the scene and at veterinary surgeries.”
It’s not clear how many survived.
President Angel Lopez Maraver blasted critics for ‘using the footage to criminalise hunters and hunting.’
Meanwhile, pro-hunting lobbies said the incident was an ‘isolated accident’ and blamed the sad affair on the ‘instinct and the nature of the dogs’.
