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No escape for fox who tried to find refuge in tree at Wexford hunt
03 April 2015
A fox who tried to find refuge in a tree during a hunt was driven out its branches and back into the path of a pack of hounds for a 50 minute chase.
According to a report in the Irish Field: "At Ballymore, hounds marked a fox in a tree. Budding mountain climber Michael ‘Mouse’ Murphy decided to investigate and, as he was climbing the tree, the fox passed him out on the way down and gave hounds a great run for over 50 minutes."
Details of the fate of this particular fox are not given but typically, foxes suffer an horrific end. Chased to exhaustion, they are knocked off their feet, bitten, disembowelled and torn apart.
The 27 February 2015 report, which focuses on the Gorey-based Island Hunt, refers to another persecuted fox - "Hounds found a fox off Marchelstown Road and ran on into Letts of Hollyford. They hunted around the extensive covert but could not get him away and eventually marked him to ground."
Later, a "well-conditioned fox slipped across the road" with the pack of hounds in pursuit. "What a sound they made screaming away so fast one can only imagine what they would be like with any bit of decent scent - they must be nearly impossible to keep pace with," the report states. "The fox headed on and over the cross-country course at Liam Griffin’s Monart Spa Hotel. Griffin is remembered best as the trainer of the Wexford hurling team but he also hunted for years with the Killinick Harriers. His son Niall is an international event rider. The huntsman and the followers could not get through the electric gates at the yard but Dwyer skirted the headland and sailed over a high tensile fence to reach the small wood where hounds were marking the fox to ground..."
The severe pressure on the fox population from all angles is conveyed, with a reference to the mounted hunters spotting a group of shooters approaching a fox covert carrying shotguns.
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Please join us in appealing to the Minister for Agriculture to give wild animals the same protection that is given to domestic animals. Tell the Minister that since all animals are capable of suffering, all animals should be protected from cruelty. Demand the removal of an exemption for foxhunting from Ireland's Animal Health and Welfare Act.
Simon Coveney, TD
Minister for Agriculture
Department of Agriculture
Agriculture House,
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Email: minister@agriculture.gov.ie
Tel: 01-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Fax: 01-661 1013.
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Contact the Taoiseach and Tanaiste. Ask them to show compassion for foxes and hares and ban hunting and coursing.
An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny
Department of the Taoiseach,
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion Street,
Dublin 2
Telephone: 01-6194020
Fax: 01-6764048
An Tanaiste, Joan Burton
Office of the Tanaiste
Iveagh House,
80 St. Stephen’s Green,
Dublin 2.
Tel: 01 6183566 (Dail)
Tel: 01 408 2000 (Iveagh House)
Fax: 01 408 2400
Email Enda Kenny and Joan Burton: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie,joan.burton@oireachtas.ie
Appeal to all Irish politicians
Please join us in telling the Irish Government that it is now time to replace foxhunting with the humane alternative - drag hunting.
Drag hunting sees the hounds chasing an artificial lure instead of a live animal. This form of "hunting" is already practised successfully by a few groups in Ireland. In a modern and civilised country like Ireland, there should be no place for foxhunting, particularly when a transition to drag hunting would be simple.
Please contact all your local politicians and ask them to express their opposition to this blood sport. Encourage your friends, family and workmates to contact them too.
Write to your TD at:
Dail Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-618 3000 or 1890 337 889.
Write to your Senator at:
Seanad Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Tel: 01-618 3000 or 1890 732 623.
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