Fox cub hunting a bloody training ground for hounds
Thursday, August 23, 2007
August is the start of the winter of cruelty with the commencement of the
fox cub hunting season.
Over the next three months mounted and foot foxhunters will be in the
countryside blooding foxhounds and harrier hounds with young fox cubs.
Cub hunting is the bloody training ground for new hounds coming into the pack
and for older hounds to rekindle their interest in hunting foxes. The
huntsman's intention is to gel the hounds in one single killing unit. Hounds
are guided by the huntsman to scent, hunt down and kill fox cubs. The more
foxcubs that end up in the mouths of the hounds the more hounds understand
their role.
After months of hunting down and killing fox cubs
hounds are ready to face up to a demanding hunting season. Many hounds will
not see a hunting season through as among the hazards a faces is death by
traffic, kicks by horses and over-hunting leading to an early death.
Even at the end of a hunting season there is no respite for hounds. Each year
a pack of hounds needs to bring in new hounds with the result that some
hounds must go to make way for the new entry. As ever, healthy hunting
hounds with a couple of seasons under their paws trot their way towards a
premature death as hunt kennels are not canine retirement homes but animal
killing centres.
Hunting with hounds is a bloody, cruelty-soaked
activity. The people who engage in it pollute the countryside with their
cruelty footprint and are nothing less than countryside terrorists.
John Tierney, Campaigns director Association of Hunt Saboteurs
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