Nantwich fox and badger sett dog attack men jailed
Four men have been jailed after filming a "barbaric" attack by their dogs on a badger sett and a fox.
Reece Welsh, 22, Ryan Kennedy, 24, John Daly, 30, all from Liverpool and Daniel Ratchford, 29, from Standish, were also banned from keeping dogs by South Cheshire Magistrate's Court on Monday.
An RSPCA inspector called it the "most appalling act of cruelty and barbaric fighting" he had ever come across.
The attacks took place in February 2013 at Hankelow, near Nantwich, Cheshire.
Six dogs, some of which had "serious injuries", were found when police stopped the van belonging to the men, the RSPCA said.
Day of hunting
The van and equipment used by the men were ordered to be confiscated by the court and the dogs were handed over to the animal welfare charity.
The RSPCA said Daly's phone contained photographs and video of a badger and a fox being attacked.
Anthony Joynes, an inspector for the charity, said: "The footage and photographs were probably the worst examples of animal cruelty I have ever seen."
He said the men went out equipped for a day of hunting to kill "whatever they could find".
Daly, from Breeze Hill, Liverpool, was jailed for 18 weeks and Welsh, of Sunbourne Road, Liverpool, for 16 weeks, after pleading guilty to charges of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and interfering with a badger sett.
Kennedy, of Townsend Avenue, Liverpool, and Ratchford, of Preston Road, Standish, were both jailed for 12 weeks after admitting causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.
All four were ordered to pay £200 to the RSPCA.