Campaign to banish fox penning
By Michael Markarian
Virginians ought to know the truth about fox pens (“Fox Penning in Virginia: Is it Animal Abuse or Sport?” Bill Cochran, roanoke.com, Oct. 25).
It’s the South’s last legal blood sport, and in Virginia, it’s under serious examination. It’s time for legislators and the game department to get serious about ridding this country of fox penning.
Markarian is the chief program and policy officer of The Humane Society of the United States.
November 8, 2012 - 7:53 AM
Mr. Markarian is entitled to his opinion regarding the use of fox pens for the training of hounds. However, he is not entitled to his own set of facts. The so-called pens are at a minimum 100 acres, and most are much larger. Hundreds of dogs are not released simultaneously, and the Game Commission regulations require pens to have at least one “safe haven” for foxes to escape into every 20 acres. Believe me, the foxes know where those havens are! Many of the foxes that are trapped in the wild would be destroyed as nuisance species if the training facilities were not an option. Nor are the foxes transported “hundreds of miles”. Regulations require the foxes to be trapped within the vicinity of the training facility. If anyone would like to visit and witness a field trial or training exercise, I would be happy to arrange.
I have been inside fox enclosures numerous times and have NEVER seen a fox running for its life or being torn apart by hounds (as opponents want others to believe). When most people hear the word “pen” they think of a small enclosure and a helpless fox with nowhere to hide. None of this is true. Hundreds of wooded acres is essentially the same as outside the enclosure. The only difference is that foxes are protected from being hit by cars or killed by coyotes, plus they are fed daily and innoculated for rabies. Hounds merely attempt to follow a trail through the woods, but are not able to outwit the sly fox.
Are we pretending that these “fox pens” are the only place the hounds and their masters ever “hunt”? I am sorry human beings see this as any kind of “sport”. Dogs, nor foxes are should be for your amusement.
I think the press has been very unfair with this issue. It has been very one sided and like the animal activists have found it guilty before given a chance to prove its innocence. I have been to some of the Fox Preserves and it is nothing like the article stated. I have been in the enclosures and it is not a fox in a cage with dogs
mauling it. I have judged field trials many times and the hound is not judged on running down the fox. The hounds are judged by picking up the scent, following the scent and tracking the scent. They are awarded points on those abilities, not the shred fest the writer of the article suggests. A typical scoring session is watching the fox cross in the path you are on. You WAIT for the dogs, which are usually not very close behind. The fox is very smart and can ouwit most of the time. As the dogs follow the scent they are scored. Some of the fox are very reconizable and I have seen them time after time in the preserve. There was one paticular fox that I had seen for two years. The hounds are awarded trophies by which one scores the highest in points. There is no blood involved. The preserves are not open year round and the fox raise many young.
The preserve owners have their own association and have put so many good pratices and policies in place. VA. preserves are closely regulated by the VA. Dept of Game and Inland Fisheries and are inspected often to ensure good care is being taken of the fox and that all laws are being followed to the letter. We have often been referred to as VA’s dirty little secret. We have never done anything in secret and anyone can come to the preserves to participate. We do many benefits for Cancer, folks who been burned out of their homes, folks stricken by serious illness and children who have been injured or sick.
We are good people and have not deserved the cruel untruths that the HSUS has started to have us shut down. Alot of good people enjoy the field trials and to label us with the slanderous lies is so unfair. If these people had been to one and expierenced for themselves that would be one thing, but to just type what you think it is because you feel animals have more rights than people is pure unethical to me.
I just request that both sides be given fair say in this. It is very unfair to hang a man without a trial first. We are guilty of nothing more than being country folks who love to be outside, spend time with our families and enjoy the sounds of the hounds. We would never take pleasure in watching hounds rip apart another animal. If that is what you believe, I may not be able to change that. But I can feel good about writing about what I do know by being there and participating and seeing with my own eyes. I don’t have millions of dollars to hire lawyers, do commercials or any of the other propaganda the HSUS puts out there, but I have the heart to fight for these people and try to preserve this and hopefully others will see some things are not what they seem.
Fox Penning is not what it is called. We are VA. Foxhound Preserves
Debbie Lynn Allen
I would like the opportunity to bring to light some factual comments regarding foxhound training preserves. I am sorry if this gets lengthy. First I would like to say that I can fully understand why some of the public is opposing the preserves. It has been a one sided debate over the last year with the opposition side clearly being given the front row seat. If I was totally unaware of what a preserve was or what the purpose of one was, after hearing the opposition’s definition, I would think it was horrible as well. I was born and raised in Richmond, VA and did not come from a family where hunting was a way of life. It was not until my family moved to a rural area in Virginia that I started experiencing the “country” way of life. I married a local young man whose heritage involved hunting and hunting with hounds. It was hard to change my views on hunting until one day I decided to attend a preserve with my husband, who at the time only had a few hounds. I was pleasantly surprised to see that within the enclosure there were no guns allowed and no animal was going to be killed. I was amazed to see the number of families participating. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this group was a very compassionate group of people that had one thing in common: the love of nature and its creatures. It was not until the birth of our first litter of registered hounds that I realized the joy of watching young hounds learn how to use their noses to smell game and trail it. See, that is what hounds are trained to do, well, not really trained because they are born with the instinct, just like hounds are used to hunt and run their game on the outside. It has been made mention that we receive trophies for our hounds performance. Yes we do. The performance of the hound is based on the abilities I described above, to use their noses to hunt, trail and run their game. It is not for the reasons being portrayed by the opponents. Our hounds are not awarded for running the game to the point of exhaustion, catching it and tearing it to pieces. Please give me a break! So you see, at one point in my life I was seeing things from the same side of the fence as you opponents but keeping an open mind and seeing for myself what the preserves were really like opened my eyes. Years later we had the opportunity to build a preserve on our land and believe me, if it were anything cruel and barbaric I would not have allowed it and certainly would have no part of it. And it was certainly not for commercialization. We only train and exercise hounds within our preserve, which are required to be 100 acres or more. With this being said, for those of you that do not understand the concept, hounds are not run everyday of the week. There is a limit on the number of hounds allowed on any given night and not every night at that. There are several days that no hounds are allowed. So the vision of fox being thrown in a “pen” and being run to death by hundreds of hounds every day is a fable. For those of you that also don’t know fox actually do breed and raise young ones within the preserves. If they led a life of pure terror how would they even have the opportunity to reproduce and how would the young fox ever survive, which they do and grow to be grown fox! Please let me explain the regulated side of the preserves. Our state enforces strict rules and regulations that we abide by to operate a foxhound training preserve. If you read that document you will see that we are one of the only states that sets forth regulations for the well being of the game within the enclosures. The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is highly involved in insuring that the rules and regulations are being enforced. It is made very clear to the preserve owners if they violate those rules their permit will be revoked. Foxhound training preserves must be in compliance with all applicable state and local ordinances and laws. Our states regulations consist of the following: License Requirements, Records and Reports, Disease Prevention, Animal Welfare, Enclosure Size, Fencing Requirements, Artificial Dens, Stocking, Compliance, Violation, etc. The preserves are inspected every year. Believe me, the preserve owners know the value of the game and respect them because they are God’s creatures and not the property of the preserve owner, they belong to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Not only are the preserves regulated by the state, we have formed a preserve owners association that has developed some best management practices. Every member is required to also abide by these practices. Development of this BMP document is part of VFTPO’s continuing commitment to promote professional, ethical, and humane standards for foxhound training preserve management. This document also provides a detailed reference describing how foxhound training preserves are generally managed in our state. Much misinformation regarding foxhound training preserves has recently been distributed by purported animal welfare organizations to the general public, media, and legislature. This misinformation often consists of deliberate distortions of the truth, unsubstantiated “facts”, or observations of problems experienced in other states. VFTPO hopes to protect the image of foxhound training preserves in Virginia by sharing factual information with all interested parties and strives to operate our facilities using the most humane and ethical management techniques available.
It has also been stones cast at Robin Starr for the death of her dog. I am sure that Ms. Starr loved her dog and would have never intentionally caused harm to her dog. I am sure that she was devastated as would any lover of animals. I can only imagine how she must have felt. I will not judge her because I was not there, I do not know the circumstances that led to the unfortunate incident, and I will not draw conclusions on something I did not witness and certainly would not judge her on the propaganda that I am sure has been falsely reported. So with that being said, how can she or others that say they oppose fox preserves, portray them correctly and honestly. Remember, those that live in glass houses should not cast stones. I simply ask that if you are not familiar with a preserve and are only developing your opinion on what you read or hear, please keep an open mind and do your own research. And please watch how you use words to describe. Using unnecessary adjectives to gain public support shows nothing but manipulation. Again, clear and precise laws and regulations are in place. I guess it is very clear that there are two totally different views on this subject and I do believe we are all concerned about the welfare of the wildlife so I am ending this debate for I guess like the old saying goes “It is okay to agree to disagree”. But please don’t base your final decision on deceitfulness, keep that open mind.
Why should it be acceptable to train “fox hounds” to hunt a fox and unacceptable to train fighting dogs? What is the difference to you?
Sandi, your question does not make sense. To a foxhound, hunting is all about tracking a scent (not catching or killing a fox). What in the world does tracking a scent have to do with fighting?
Supposedly fighting dogs are bred to fight like herding dogs are bred to herd, scent dogs are bred to track/find, etc. Are you also trying to say the dogs never go out and actually hunt/kill a fox? Really?
Again, what is the difference to you?
Sandi, the purpose of a fighting dog is to kill and that is not the purpose of a foxhound. The purpose of a foxhound is to trail the fox, not to kill it. If you ever go to a foxhound training facility you will see that the hounds don’t “rip apart and kill foxes”, they are only there to be trained and trail the fox.
So all dogfights end in the death of a dog, but not all fox hunts end in the death of a fox. You OK with Cock Fighting too on those same grounds? This makes the difference worth noting to you? I find that indescribably sad. Torture and cruelty is only when there is bloodshed or death? Is that your final answer? Who reads the fox the memo that he will not die from this torture and cruelty so it is therefore alright?
Sandi, all I was going off of was your last post were you said “fighting dogs are bred to fight”. I was just trying to explain that the purpose for a foxhound is totally different. The purpose is not to kill, but it is to train and exercise the hounds. In a fox pen facility the fox is always ahead of the dogs and has an abundance of places to hide in a large 100 acre minimum pen as oppossed to the dog and cock fighting you referenced. The fact you put something that takes place in a small enclosure or cage in the same area of fox penning shows you need to try something before you judge it.
There are many, many things I do not need to “try” before I know they are wrong; dozens or hundreds of hounds chasing a fox is simply one of them. Pen or no pen. Catch or no catch. I find it barbaric, cruel and wrong. Nothing you can say will change my mind, but I will continue to respond until you all leave me and my opinion alone.
Sandi please do some research true British and early American fox hunting consisted of hounds running a fox if the fox goes in a hole a ground dog ei: jack russell or fox terrier would be used to get the fox. The American fox hound is not bred to run down the fox and kill it they were and are bred to run the fox on sent not site. Know one what’s you to change your views but to be educated on the subject before debating over it.