Fox facts

The reason why fox hunting is such an important issue is because it's a classic example of how power and influence can pervert truth and honesty But many of its problems also apply to other forms of hunting. Let's get one thing absolutely straight - the reason people hunt is because they find it entertaining. Any reasons they give such as controlling pests or protecting livestock are just excuses. If you look at hunting objectively, not even one of its claims stand up to investigation.

Fox hunting started in Britain about 250 years ago when all the wild boar and wolves had been hunted to extinction and deer had been reduced to a few herds, mostly on big estates. Before that, foxes had been completely ignored.

Foxes are a small wild dog that have shown themselves to be amazingly adaptable and are now almost as much a part of towns as they are the countryside. Like all dogs, they are both hunters and scavengers. But foxes are not. fighters - they will back away from any kind of confrontation rather than get into a fight. Video footage shows that when a fox and cat bump into each other, which they do frequently, it's the fox that gives the cat a wide berth.

Hunting takes place all over Europe and in parts of the US but its natural home is Britain. Here, it takes place between the beginning of November and April. As female foxes - vixens - give birth to their cubs in March, it means they are hunted when they are pregnant or nursing their cubs. The cubs of any vixen who is killed during this time will starve to death.

The main diet of foxes is rabbits, rats, voles, earthworms and carrion (anything that's already dead).They largely feed at night and lie low during the day Their 'earth' - usually a hole in the ground - is used as a home to give birth to and protect the cubs. Once weaned, they spend the majority of their time above ground, except in emergencies.

Terror men

The hunt identifies particular areas that have foxes - usually coverts, small areas of woodland. The terriermen start work before the hunt and scour the area for fox earths, which they block up. It is illegal for them to block badger setts but they often do this too. It's perhaps not surprising that almost every man ever found guilty of badger baiting - setting dogs onto a badger who cannot escape - has been a hunt terrierman.

The following day the hounds are sent into one of the coverts and if they 'put up' a fox, the chase is on. It can last for hours until the fox either escapes or is caught and torn to pieces. If the fox finds an earth, or sometimes even a badger sett, which hasn't been blocked up, it may take refuge inside. But, sadly, it offers no escape.

The terriermen arrive and their first task is to put a small terrier dog down the entrance of the earth in the hope of driving the fox out. The terrier will attack the fox and may stay underground biting and tearing at what bits of the fox it can get hold of while the terriermen begin to dig the animals out. Fox earths can be deep and the process can take hours.

I have seen one piece of video footage which makes me both sad and angry every time I think of it. It shows the end of a dig out which has taken nearly three hours. During the whole of this time the fox will have been frightened and highly stressed. The footage shows a terrierman holding up the screaming vixen by the scruff of her neck and he is laughing. She is so terrified that she urinates and defecates while she is held in the air. You can clearly see her swollen teats that are seeping milk, which means that somewhere she has young cubs waiting to be fed. Again the terrierman finds this amusing and points to them.

Finally, bored with having his picture taken, he puts the vixen on the ground, stands on her with one foot and then beats her to death with a shovel. Throughout this whole process he never stops laughing or smiling. That man is probably out there now, part of someone's community - a man utterly devoid of compassion, who finds humour in terror and suffering.

Reasons to kill

Of course, those involved in hunting try to hide the cruelty with strict social rules about hunt 'etiquette' (manners) and dress.They like to pretend that they are the only ones who know anything about the countryside and are a part of rural tradition. They may be part of recent tradition but they obviously know nothing about wild animals because their excuses in support of hunting are nonsense.

They say that if foxes weren't hunted they would overrun the countryside. There are about 350,000 foxes in Britain and almost all of them are killed every year - by cars, by shooting, gassing and snaring, and some by hunting, but only a small minority. It is an amazing onslaught on one species, which survives only because it still manages to have cubs.

Even if no foxes were killed, they still wouldn't take over because they are superb at controlling their own numbers according to availability of food. If food is scarce the less dominant vixens stop coming into season. Foxes form family groups that defend their own territory against intruding foxes, and this helps maintain stability of numbers in each area. The fox population would not explode if all methods of fox killing were stopped and this was demonstrated by Aberdeen University in a three-year study

The other claim made in support of hunting is that foxes destroy livestock, particularly sheep and hens. For a start, almost all hens are kept inside huge industrial sheds and never see a fox. On free-range farms, foxes can be successfully kept out with electric fences and by ensuring all the hens are securely inside when the light begins to fade.

As for sheep, there have been three studies into fox predation on lambs in Britain - by the Government, Bristol University and the hunters' magazine The Field. The Government said that the problem was 'insignificant'. Bristol University said that far from being a problem, the effect of the fox on the countryside was beneficial. Even the hunters' favourite publication could only come up with a figure of one lamb per hundred being taken by foxes. It compares with 20 lambs per hundred that die because of cold, hunger and neglect by the farmer. The chances are that the lambs that were taken by foxes were likely to be those that were sickly and dying.

As one farmer told me, no mother sheep is ever going to allow a fox to grab her lamb and the fox won't risk confrontation with an angry ewe. Of course, now that ewes are being forced to have three lambs, it might be difficult for her to protect all of them - but whose fault is that?

The usual insult hurled at foxes is that they're vicious and if they get in a henshed will kill all the hens for fun and take only one to eat. The only animal that kills in large numbers for fun is us - humans.

In nature, a fox is never surrounded by flapping, frightened birds because they would simply be able to fly away Its instincts are to kill when it has the chance and only humans can present it with such an opportunity when they artificially confine birds in a shed. Researchers have witnessed this killing frenzy in other carnivorous animals including sharks. It's nothing more than instinct.

If hunting was about controlling fox populations, fast running dogs such as greyhounds or lurchers would be used and the whole thing would be over in seconds - but they aren't. In fact, the hounds are specially bred to run more slowly than the fox and to sustain a prolonged chase. The fox outruns the hounds until it is exhausted and the bigger and stronger hounds are then able to catch it. The longer the fox can keep up its efforts, the more so-called 'sport' is obtained; therefore a weak, elderly or pregnant fox provides only a short hunt. A young, fit and strong fox can last up to two hours before it succumbs to fatigue, but the hounds can run for six or seven hours if necessary. Foxes are not naturally adapted to endure long periods of pursuit and must suffer great distress.

Baby butchery

One aspect of fox hunting rarely mentioned is 'cubbing' which is used to train the foxhounds. Because the hounds have no natural instinct to kill foxes, they have to be trained by being taken out from August to October with older dogs and set onto young fox cubs. A small wood is surrounded by hunters on horseback and on foot, and the hounds are sent in to attack the cubs. If a young fox tries to escape, the hunters slap their saddles and shout to terrify the animal back to the hounds. Clifford Pellow, a professional huntsman for 20 years, declared: 'Cub hunting is a barbaric, hideous business in which the victims are still completely and utterly inexperienced and dependent on their mothers' (LACS, 'Hunting', 1997). Ten thousand cubs are killed this way each year.

And what about the hounds? At six years old (half their life expectancy) they are shot, to be replaced by younger hounds.