Pack of hunting hounds 'attack pet dog' on Cornish beach Published duration 17 January 2017

image copyright National Trust Images image caption The incident happened at Gunwalloe Beach in West Cornwall

A pack of hunting hounds chased a pet dog across a Cornish beach before attacking it and its owner.

A walker said he saw around 40 hounds chasing after a greyhound type dog at Gunwalloe Beach, Cornwall.

The owner of the dog was bitten several times when he intervened, the eyewitness said.

A spokesperson for the Cury Hunt said a representative had visited the dog owner the next day, adding: "We very much regret the incident."

Julian Parrott said the elderly owner "bravely grabbed the dog" who had got "five or 10 metres ahead of the pack".

"The dog was bitten on its back a few times, and the owner was bitten several times. He had his blood all over him and his wife."

image copyright Thinkstock

Judy Glover, also on the beach, said: "I don't think they should take the hounds on the beach when there are people with dogs and children."

The National Trust said the hunt was "licensed to enter our land for the purposes of trail hunting and exercising hounds over a restricted area and on restricted days".

A Cury Hunt spokesman said: "Some of the riders went down to the beach to wash their horses off in the sea. Unfortunately, while paddling with the horses, one horse spooked, careered through the others and kicked a hound.

"This hound then ran across the beach with some of the others across the path of a dog. An altercation then took place.