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Students at a prestigious university dubbed ‘Oxbridge for farmers’ strapped a dead stag to the bonnet of a car during a charity rally, MailOnline can reveal.
A photo from the fundraising event at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, shows the lifeless animal’s head and hide strapped to the bonnet of a Land Rover with yellow string.
It comes after another photo from the event showed a dead fox strapped to the roof of a car with each leg secured by blue rope.
The university, whose patron is Charles III, is known for attracting the scions of wealthy farmers and counts Captain Mark Phillips, Princess Anne‘s former husband, among its alumni.
A photo from the fundraising event shows the stag’s head and hide strapped to the bonnet of a Land Rover
A photo from the fundraising event at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) in Cirencester yesterday shows the lifeless fox sprawled on the vehicle’s roof
Founded in 1845 as the first agricultural university in the English-speaking world, the RAU recently ranked among the top-ten universities in the country for student experience.
But its ‘Hooray Henry’ students have also gained a reputation for rowdy behaviour and a heavy drinking culture.
Referring to yesterday’s incident, a source told MailOnline: ‘Given it’s a university with the motto ”caring for the fields and the beasts”, it’s a fairly clear (if not shocking) breach of their supposed ethos.
‘The RAU is full of entitled old fogeys who are resistant to any sort of change – most are so rich they think they can get away with anything.’
The university said it condemned the students’ behaviour and had contacted Gloucestershire Constabulary for help with identifying the perpetrators.
The force said it had spoken to the students on the day and given them ‘words of advice’ but no crime had been committed.
Wild foxes are considered vermin, so while it is against the law to hunt them with dogs it is not illegal to shoot them humanely with a registered firearm.
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The offence of outraging public decency concerns behaving in a way that is ‘lewd, obscene or disgusting’ in the presence of at least two members of the public.
Founded in 1845 as the first agricultural university in the English-speaking world, the RAU recently ranked among the top ten universities in the country for student experience
Students from the Royal Agricultural University were in attendance last week during a visit to a dairy farm by the Countess of Wessex.
Sophie, 58, got stuck in bottle-feeding a young calf milk during her visit to Smerrill Dairy in Cirencester.
A Royal Agricultural University spokesman told MailOnline: ‘We condemn this behaviour.
‘As soon as we were made aware of this incident, the details were passed to our Student Services team and an investigation was started immediately.
‘We have spoken to the Police and to our Students’ Union to identify those involved.
‘We will absolutely not tolerate this kind of behaviour and will deal with those involved appropriately in light of the severity of the incident.
‘The behaviours on display by a select minority of our students during this year’s RAG Rally go against the University’s core values.
‘The severity of those incidents has led to the decision by the University to withdraw support for the Rally in future years.’
Gloucestershire Police said: ‘We are aware of the incident and have been in contact with the Royal Agricultural University.
‘Officers were present at the rally and spoke to students at the time with words of advice. No criminal offences are believed to have taken place at this time.’
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