FIVE HUNTING HOUNDS were killed after running loose on the M3 motorway at Skreen, Dunshaughlin on Monday.

A road traffic collision involving a number of cars occurred at around 3.20pm after drivers made attempts to avoid the hounds on the run.

No one was injured in the incident, however, five dogs were killed.

Janet Williamson, secretary of the Meath Hunt told the Meath Chronicle that the group has road marshals and people on foot, keeping the hounds away from the motorway and in the nearby fields, but on this occasion, they got away too fast and their staff found it too difficult to capture them.

“The Meath Hunt is indemnified against any incident like this and any damaged vehicle will be repaired and looked after,” she said.

“Our hounds are looked after well by a whole team of experienced staff and nobody wants to see this kind of thing happen. We are cooperating with the gardaí.”

TheJournal.ie contacted Meath Hunt for comment, however the spokesperson referred back to the comments made in the Meath Chronicle.

First-hand footage

Dash camera footage, first published by the Meath Chronicle, shows driver Donna Griffin having to divert around one of the injured hounds left lying in the middle of one lane after being struck down.

Griffin was travelling from Dublin to Navan on the M3 when she captured the footage.

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She said that she noticed a dog running against the traffic in the hard shoulder lane and “didn’t have a clue what was going on”.

“A few seconds later we saw the two poor hounds dead in the overtaking lane, and right across from those it looked like there was another one behind the barrier on the side,” Griffin said.

“You could see loads more hounds running towards traffic. We had already put our hazard lights on, stopping the traffic behind us.”

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has said it is lodging a formal complaint with the gardaí calling for a full investigation into the incident.

It has also called on the government to outlaw hunting with packs of hounds “which causes terrible suffering to animals and poses a major threat to public safety”.