By : Accidental Writer

28/09/2020

Post Mortem of a Hunted Fox

 

The true facts

Many of us will have heard the excuses hunts and the Countryside Alliance (CA) use to justify their lust of hunting foxes with packs of hounds and how they are performing a needy and valued service to the countryside folk by controlling the ‘pest’ infestation, namely, the fox. 

 

They try to convince us that foxhunting with hounds is the most humane and kindest method of control, as the fox no longer has a natural predator, and they are merely protecting rural people’s livelihoods.

 

Myth : Foxhunters claim that hunting with hounds is the most humane method of killing foxes. They claim that the fox is killed by a quick bite to the back of neck.   Truth : This false claim has been dismissed by a study of foxes killed by hounds above ground and submitted for post-mortem examination indicated that the animals died from profound trauma inflicted by multiple dog bites rather than a quick bite to the neck. Hunting with hounds did inflict suffering, stress, pain and trauma both in the chase and kill. (Ref : Fox Management IFAW Biological Sciences, University of Bristol & Environment Department, University of York)

 

The truth of their barbarity is their wanton bloodlust, to hunt and kill, seeking thrills from flushing and chasing an innocent animal, with a pack of hounds, then watching it being ripped to pieces. 

 

It is not, as hunts claim, a “quick bite” to the back of the neck.  The truth is, hunts inflict suffering, stress, pain and trauma to their quarry, which is supported by forensic evidence from veterinary post mortems, years of eye witness accounts and countless evidence.

 

If you have ever watched a fox being ripped apart by a pack of hounds you will know what hunts claim certainly isn’t true. The actual death can take some time where the fox is used as a tug of war between the hounds and slowly ripped apart. This behaviour can be observed daily with domestic dogs pulling on a toy.

 

Stag hunting is equally brutal where the stag can be chased for many hours to the point of collapsing with complete exhaustion, suffering severe trauma, stress and internal organ failure. It can take a considerable time for the huntsman to catch up to his pack, who have pinned down a stag ripping at its flesh while still alive.

Only the most twisted mind would take pleasure from this.

 

Myth : Hunters claim they are controlling animal population, some also say they are supplying food for the table.   Truth : Hunting with hounds is actually one of the worst methods of animal population control. A trained experienced marksman with a specialised high calibre rifle is far more effective at culling populations where it is deemed necessary, however, with the sharp decline in rural fox populations, it is not actually necessary to control fox populations anymore. Some hunts have actually been found to rear foxes to hunt and encourage farmers to allow more foxes to breed so they have more to hunt. This blows the hunts false argument that foxes need to be controlled.  Hunting with hounds is all about fun of the chase and killing. It doesn’t actually serve any effective purpose.    Some hunters also claim they are helping to supply food for the table by hunting deer, however the more the animal runs and is stressed, the more adrenaline and lactic acid builds up in the animal’s system and muscles making the meat more distasteful.  Stress also alters protein composition, vitamin and mineral content.

 

Link :   What happens when animals are chased

 

Link  :  Myths and Truths

 

Simon Hart & Lord Daresbury Email scandal Leaked Email 2004 :  Lord Daresbury was Chairman of the Master of Fox Hounds Associations when he made perhaps the biggest single blunder in the history of the hunting lobby. In early 2004 he wrote to all registered FH chairmen, urging hunts to get ‘their’ farmers to provide plenty of opportunities for foxes to breed on their land, as they were running short of foxes to hunt in many areas. Bang goes their ‘pest control’ argument. Simon Hart, then CEO of the Countryside Alliance (now a Tory MP, though still in receipt of £30k a year from the hunting lobby), emailed him back, tearing him off a strip for being so bloody stupid.

Forensic Evidence

 

Over the past twenty years, veterinarians have performed post mortems on the bodies of foxes, and other hunted animals.

 

The Home Office Committee for The Final Report ‘Inquiry into Hunting with Dogs in England and Wales’ 9 June 2000 found:

 

The evidence which we have seen suggests that, in the case of the killing of a fox by hounds above ground, death is not always effected by a single bite to the neck or shoulders by the leading hound resulting in the dislocation of the cervical vertebrae. In a proportion of cases it results from massive injuries to the chest and vital organs, although insensibility and death will normally follow within a matter of seconds once the fox is caught. There is a lack of firm scientific evidence about the effect on the welfare of a fox of being closely pursued, caught and killed above

ground by hounds. We are satisfied, nevertheless, that this experience seriously compromises the welfare of the fox. (Paragraph 6.49)

 

• On 04/12/2016,  saboteurs released a video containing graphic images of a fox being attacked by up to 20 hounds believed to belong to The Old Surrey and West Kent Hunt. This took place at Chiddingstone Hoath near Tunbridge Wells. The fox was seen being retrieved and carried off with its intestines hanging from its body.

 

• POWA (Protect Our Wild Animals) 2015 -2016 Hunting Season issue, released a Report on an autopsy , titled ‘Fox Kill Atherstone Hunt Osbaston 26.01.2016. A summary of some of the injuries were:

• Multiple bites and tearing injuries to the head, abdomen and neck – typical of a hound kill
• Tearing injuries to intestines, one kidney partially  removed from abdomen
• The scrotum was torn and testicles exposed.
• Spine broken at L2 vertebrae
• The spinal injury was caused by hounds tossing it in the air prior to death.
• Blood in the trachea to suggest the fox was still alive when the chest was damaged

THE FOX WOULD HAVE SUFFERED PROLONG EXTREME PAIN

 

 

In Scotland it is legal to flush a fox with a pack of hounds. Once a fox has been flushed it must be shot. This incident highlights the hunts incompetence with guns by not dispatching the fox cleanly and then allowing a pack of hounds to finish the fox off.

 

An autopsy concluded :  The fox had suffered “gruesome” injuries consistent with that caused by a dog or dogs.

These included extensive tearing of the skin and muscles and a hole in the chest wall so deep the animal’s lung was visible within. 

The pathology report highlights a catalogue of gruesome injuries leaving no doubt to the extent to which this animal had suffered.

Vets also found evidence of a gunshot wound but pellets had missed vital organs and said shooting was “highly unlikely” to have been the cause of death.

 

The CA claimed: “the fox was legally shot”.

            

One Kind charity’s director said:

“The fox had suffered severe trauma consistent with that caused by a dog or dogs. In my opinion the shot was not instantly fatal. The tears and puncture wounds on both sides of the body that were so severe that part of the lung and the bladder were exposed were therefore most likely made whilst the fox was still alive.”      

 

“Despite a Law which supposedly prevents foxes from suffering negative welfare impacts from hunting with hounds, this unprecedented post mortem  of a hunted fox makes it clear that suffering continues”.

 

“The level of trauma experienced by the fox prior to its death and then the manner in which it eventually died, is completely unacceptable and debunks the myth that foxes killed by packs of hounds  are dispatched with a ‘quick nip to the back of the neck “.

 

A spokesman for the Hunt claimed 

“As far as what happened on that day, the fox was shot pretty cleanly  death was pretty instantaneous”.

 

Despite this forensic evidence  the CA arrogantly stated:

“It is clear that Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire Hunt were acting both legally and responsibly in the control of foxes”.

 

Marc Baldwin of Wildlife Online, stated in an article, Fox Hunting and the Hunting Act 2004:
“Nip to the neck – severing of the cervical vertebrae, meaning killing outright, is difficult to assess, but does not appear to be supported by evidence. Bristol University carried out post mortems on four foxes – all had sustained multiple bites and disembowelment – none had a broken neck”.

Marc also states that after talking to many professional stalkers, it is believed the most humane way of dispatching a fox is by a competent marksman with a high calibre weapon. (Not using a shotgun).

 

It seems clear, having read the independent forensic evidence supplied by multiple professionals, that the CA window dress their organisation with deceit and lies at how the foxes die, quickly and humanely, when in reality, they are cruelly chased and killed by hunts, suffering profound trauma and a gruesome death. 

 

If the CA can be so dishonest and refuse to acknowledge the truth in such a bare faced manner, they cannot be trusted with anything they say, ever!