barefoot vegan sept_oct issue.pdf

As the huntsmen
laughed and socialised
at the start of the hunt,
drinking alcohol and
eating snacks, the
hounds ran to the Hunt
Sabs. The sabs cuddled
and hugged these poor,
desperate dogs... I was
told that this is the only
positive attention the
hounds will ever
experience.
Foxhounds Association, due to many ‘accidental’ animal
deaths and controversies surrounding the hunting
practices of the Red Coats.
Now, through all of this mania, people are often left
forgetting the poor hounds over the foxes. Several wellknown
newspapers did publish a couple of articles on the
hounds this year, which was really good, but
nethertheless, the hounds do get forgotten.
It has been estimated that around 4,000 fox hounds are
killed every year for a variety of reasons. Older dogs are
shot at the age of 6-7 when the huntsmen feel they have
outlived their abilities, puppies are killed at birth for
being ‘weak’ and throughout the dogs lives, individuals
are picked off for different reasons, such as not working
as hard as they should, going off scent, being weak
specimens. Many foxhounds are killed on roads ever year
as the hunts takes them over and alongside busy main
roads where they are knocked down on a regular basis.
I was privileged to join The Hunt Sab Association and
run with these brave volunteers in order to experience
what it was like to watch a Trail Hunt. The first thing
which struck me was the desperation of the foxhounds for
attention. As the huntsmen laughed and socialised at the
start of the hunt, drinking alcohol and eating snacks, the
poor hounds ran to the Hunt Sabs, as they instantly
recognised that they would get attention from these
people. The sabs cuddled and hugged these poor
desperate dogs, who were scarred up from running
through barbed wire fences and probably clashing with
one another. I was told by the sabs that this is the only
positive attention the hounds will ever experience.
When the hounds are home, they are shut away in
stables and pens, which can lead to fighting and injuring
one another. They exist with as much attention as a
factory farmed cow or chicken. It is amazing that they
have such gentle and affectionate depositions after all
the neglect. They are gentle breeds by nature and it
seems that the huntsmen have created monsters by
reputation and by training, as in the flesh the dogs were
delightful. They do not seem naturally inclined to be
aggressive or mean and simply have a taste for pursuing
small mammals, that’s all. This does not mean that they
could or would be aggressive to a human in any way or
form any more than any other dog. Like an abused or
neglected dog which has needed to adapt to survive,
these dogs have been taught that it’s good to chase and
kill foxes.
The huntsmen claim that the hounds cannot be
rehomed and like a greyhound, they have developed
extreme predatory instincts. However, many ex-racing
greyhounds are successfully rehomed. I am not saying
that a foxhound could be homed with small animals
such as cats, but they could be homed into similar
homes to which these greyhounds go to. Instead they are
put down at age 6-7 and I have been told, by a bullet,
rather than lethal injection. This is not regulated and I
shudder to think about the various means to how the
death could transpire.
Several online films have shown foxhounds living in very
crowded conditions in barns, with barely a pin to put
between them at night. Clean? Yes, but that doesn’t
matter as they are crowded and never touched. Some
people have argued that they are happy and that is how
they like to live, but remember, these are the same
people who argue that its fine to rip a fox into little
pieces while it is still alive… I rest my case.
So my article is intended to draw everyone’s attention a
little bit more towards the hounds as well as the fox. If
hundreds are being bred to be killed every year, as they
don’t make the grade, are ignored, neglected and shot
young, then we need to look more towards the rights of
these animals. If a person can be prosecuted for abusing
a pet dog, then why is no one doing more about the
protection of these poor hunting dogs?
Perhaps now we can start to fight for the rights of the
hounds as well as the fox. BV
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