Foxhounds Are Shot If They Don’t Attack Foxes – Sign Petition to End this Cruel Practice!

Many of us were introduced to topics involving animal rights early on in life with the touching story of The Fox and The Hound, a tale about two very similar creatures, a fox kit and a hound puppy, who are inclined to be best friends but forced to become enemies at the orders of the hound’s “master.”  The hound is punished when he does not demonstrate vicious behavior toward the fox and he is trained to hunt him. The heart-wrenching tale that ends in tragedy for both the fox and the hound is not merely fiction, however. This cruel practice of pitting hounds against foxes is a sad reality in the world, particularly in the United Kingdom where it is revered as sport.

A petition on Care2 states an estimated 4,000 foxhounds are mercilessly killed each year if they do not show signs of being vicious enough to hunt foxes. Puppies as young as one week old are killed if they are deemed too weak for the “sport.”  The petition explains that it is a commonly accepted practice to shoot hounds that follow the wrong scent or do not follow orders to attack fox kits. Many hounds are killed at half their life expectancy, just four or five years old, and older hounds who can no longer hunt are shot and killed. To keep up with the turnover, hounds are overbred and treated strictly like commodities rather than living beings.

Foxhunting is a cruel practice with no winners, and it is high time it is recognized for what it truly is rather than respected as a fine sport associated with gentry and nobility. Hounds and foxes are not natural enemies, and forcing them to be such is nothing short of barbaric.

Please take a moment to sign this petition demanding an end to foxhunting and the merciless deaths of both foxes and hounds. Few people realize the extent of the tragedies associated with foxhunting, so please share this with your friends and family.

Image Source: Creative Vix / pexels.com