Why Covid poses threat to foxes – Steve Cardownie

As foxes continue to be killed by Scottish hunts, Steve Cardownie calls for loopholes in the law to be closed despite politicians’ focus on tackling the coronavirus outbreak.

Most people would be thrilled to see a fox, but some people seem to hate them, says Steve Cardownie (Picture: Alan McFadyen/SWNS)

A few months ago when writing about the continuing practice of fox hunting, I resolved to renew my membership of the League Against Cruel Sports (which I unfortunately allowed to lapse many years previously) and duly did so.

Given the current Covid-19 pandemic and the attention it has quite rightly commanded from the media, there may well be a tendency to concentrate on that issue to the exclusion of all others, but that would be to deny that there are other matters that are still worthy of our concern. And the treatment of animals is one of them, particularly the issue of animal cruelty in the name of ‘sport’.

The League’s website informs us that there are 299 hunts still active in the UK, despite the ban and helpfully provides an interactive map showing who they are, where they are and provides help on how to contact local councils requesting a ban.

The site tells us that “using your postcode, you can identify all of the hunts in your area, the territory in which they hunt and what uniform they wear. Click on ‘fox hunts’, ‘hare hunts’ or ‘staghounds’ to see the various types of hunting with dogs”. The amount of hunting activity just to the south of Edinburgh bears testimony to the fact that many are defying the spirit of the ban, are intent on hunting with dogs come what may and are unafraid of the potential consequences.

For the past six years, the League’s professional investigators recorded video footage showing mounted hunts in Scotland with packs of hounds searching for and chasing foxes without the ‘meaningful’ presence of shotguns, which are supposed to despatch the fox rather than allow it to be torn to pieces by the hounds while still alive. This led to the successful prosecution of two huntsmen for breaching the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 by deliberately hunting a fox with dogs near Jedburgh in 2016.

In the light of this, the Scottish Government grew concerned that fox hunting was still taking place and commissioned a review of the Scottish hunting legislation to which the League submitted over 100 hours of footage of Scottish hunts. The review concluded that there was indeed some evidence that traditional fox hunting was going on. As a result, last year the Scottish Government announced that it planned to strengthen the Protection of Wild Animals Act 2002 by banning the use of packs of hounds but due to the onset of Covid-19 this has been delayed until after the next election in May 2021. The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said that her Government intended to ensure that no loophole would allow hunting to continue and, in an opinion poll conducted by Ipsos Mori Scotland five years ago, 84 per cent of the Scottish public supported a ban.

The scenes contained in the footage of the Scottish hunts on the League’s website make for harrowing viewing and pull no punches, which is exactly what is needed if people are to fully appreciate the cruelty involved.

Last month Paul Tillsley, the League’s head of conservation and education, wrote in his blog: “Mammals also tend to divide people’s opinions in ways that other animals don’t. Foxes are a good example. Most people are thrilled to get a fleeting glimpse of a fox crossing the road in front of their vehicle, but some people loathe them and spend all of their time trying to eradicate them.”

I know which category I fall into!

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