....... Anyone’ll tell you hunting isn’t the nicest thing for foxes; it’s not ‘nice’ when any animal dies (unless the parts of its dismembered carcass taste or look good enough; then we can turn a blind eye). But there’s a lot more to hunting than just the death of a fox. The myths propagated by hunters include ‘pest control’ and population management: this is no more than a clever PR trick, engineered to appeal to logic and a sense of ‘the common good’. A UK Ministry of Agriculture survey showed that only 0.5% of lamb deaths were related to foxes, and since roughly 98% of hens in the UK are kept in battery buildings and overcrowded barns, there’s little chance of any Wile E. Coyote-style coop-raiding taking place. The official evaluation of the risk posed by foxes to agriculture is that it’s ‘negligible’ – i.e. tiny, insignificant, minor, miniscule, etc. etc. etc…
....... Hunters claim that they are saving foxes from the less humane ways of fox killing employed by farmers, including snaring and other painful methods. The findings of certain U.S. research would indicate otherwise: autopsies carried out on foxes chased by a pack of dogs for only five minutes, and on foxes ensnared in agonizing pain and terror for 2-8 hours in brutal traps, revealed that the trauma caused to the bodies of the animals in both cases were markedly similar: heart and lung haemorrhages and the type of muscle breakdown which is often resultant in brain damage, paralysis and death were found. This renders both claims of ‘humane killing,’ and protestations that around 70% of foxes escape anyway, completely void. It would be more correct to say that 70% of foxes escape the dogs, only for many of them to suffer a drawn-out, excruciatingly painful death, collapsed in rotting undergrowth in a state of confusion and pain-heightened fear. Good ol’ humanity, eh? Even if death by the dogs or irreversible physical trauma was preferable to the farmers’ traps, foxhunting doesn’t make enough of a difference to farmers for them to reduce trap numbers.
....... Those foxes that do get caught have a choice of three thrilling methods by which to be destroyed: will it be bloody dismemberment by the hounds? Shooting, or, in the case of a gun getting jammed, bludgeoning to death with a spade? Or will our lucky contestant go for the trapping option, where, having found a hole to escape into, it will be set upon by a terrier which will attack incessantly, sometimes for hours, until the fox, the terrier, or both, meet gory ends at each others’ teeth? Whether the fox manages to kill the terrier or not, its death is assured, as dogs are expendable and another terrier can be sent down the hole. If the fox is driven out before the terrier kills it, it will be shot or hacked to death with shovels, getting a lucky second chance at Death Option #2 as mentioned above. Although banned by the foxhunting organisation, it is not unheard of for foxes to be thrown to the dogs for the hunters’ amusement: a video of one such occasion can be obtained from IDA. The dogs sink their teeth into the fox’s body and rip it limb from limb, the stomach sometimes tearing down the middle as two dogs tug at either side, innards bulging grotesquely out of obscene, gaping wounds- and the fox remains conscious all the while. The fresh air, the countryside, the excitement…the sickness, the cruelty, the disgusting, diseased brutality…all valid reasons for this noble sport, are they not?
....... But the activists aren’t blameless themselves. Violent protests occur fairly often; to quote a recent article in the Irish Times Magazine, “firecrackers thrown among horses, nails and glass strewn on the ground, metal wire strung at head height to fell a galloping horse and rider,” even car bombs and nail-bombs in the mail. However, plans to form a ‘provisional wing’ of hunt supporters to ‘take aggressive action’ have been discovered in paperwork leaked from the (pro-hunt) British Countryside Alliance – god love them, they just want to get on with their inter-marrying high-class lifestyles in peace.
....... The common conception of hunters is that they’re inbred, belligerent, upper-crust Brits with bunny-teeth and names like ‘Charles Smithenly-Braithewaithe IV’ that don’t have much to say except for the odd “tally-ho”, “jolly good,” “top drawer old chum” etc. Well, they’re out there, but in Ireland, the prevalent type of huntsperson is just an average Joe, with perhaps a slightly more finely honed taste for blood than the rest of us. In Ireland there are 300 packs of hounds, 83 of them mounted, according to James Norton, spokesman for the Hunting Association of Ireland.
....... Despite claims that the hunt is all about ‘the thrill of the chase,’ hunters still display no particular aversion to decking the walls of their homes with ‘pads’ (hare paws), ‘slots’ (stag hooves) and brushes (fox tails), not to mention heads sliced from unlucky conquests.
....... Maybe they’re telling the truth. Maybe hunting is the most humane way to get rid of foxes, for whatever convoluted reasons they’ve come up with. But how does this explain the indifferent attitude to injuries sustained by their own horses and hounds: broken legs and necks; torn paws, hides, and tails? Dogs are often crushed by cars or trains which cross the path of the hunt. If injured dogs don’t get their act together and get back on the hunt after a period, they are shot rather than treated by a vet. Similarly, horses that can no longer perform to satisfaction are slung on a trailer bound for the knacker’s yard. After all, bullets are cheap, and as far as hunters are concerned, an animal’s life is cheaper.
....... It is denied by most hunters that they beat their hounds to train them, but witnesses of hunts report that dogs cower away from a raised whip, certain indication that they have previously experienced it’s use. Many hunt books advocate the use of whips in dog-training.
....... Dogs that get too slow after years of faithful service have a pretty fair chance of getting a bullet in the head for their trouble. It is estimated that huntsmen kill 10 000 dogs a year. And it’s not just worn-out old hounds that get the chop, but dogs that don’t conform to the ideal, in terms of behaviour, physical characteristics, and even, incredibly, fur colour. Dogs are not given the chance to live out their natural lives when their usefulness has slowed. The RSPCA and LACS have actually offered to re-home dogs for hunters, but the majority refused, apparently preferring to see their faithful hounds dead.
....... But don’t allow these petty details to sully your view of this gentle art. Ah yes…nothing nourishes the soul like the thrill of the chase, the wind in your hair, the blood on your hands…