Fox hunting
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds", follow the hounds on foot or on horseback.
Fox hunting with hounds, as a formalised activity, originated in England in the sixteenth century, in a form very similar to that practised until February 2005, when a law banning the activity in England and Wales came into force. A ban on hunting in Scotland had been passed in 2002, but it continues to be within the law in Northern Ireland and several other jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada, France, Ireland and the United States.
The sport is controversial, particularly in the United Kingdom. Proponents of fox hunting view it as an important part of rural culture and useful for reasons of conservation and pest control, while opponents argue it is cruel and unnecessary.
History
The use of scenthounds to track prey dates back to Assyrian, Babylonian, and ancient Egyptian times, and was known as venery.Europe
Many Greek- and Roman-influenced countries have long traditions of hunting with hounds. Hunting with hounds was popular in Celtic Britain, even before the Romans arrived, introducing the Castorian and Fulpine hound breeds which they used to hunt. Norman hunting traditions were brought to Britain when William the Conqueror arrived, along with the Gascon and Talbot hounds.Foxes were referred to as beasts of the chase by medieval times, along with the red deer, martens, and roes, but the earliest known attempt to hunt a fox with hounds was in Norfolk, England, in 1534, where farmers began chasing foxes down with their dogs for the purpose of pest control. The last wolf in England was killed in the late 15th century during the reign of Henry VII, leaving the English fox with no threat from larger predators. The first use of packs specifically trained to hunt foxes was in the late 1600s, with the oldest fox hunt being, probably, the Bilsdale in Yorkshire.
By the end of the seventeenth century, deer hunting was in decline. The inclosure acts brought fences to separate formerly open land into many smaller fields, deer forests were being cut down, and arable land was increasing. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, people began to move out of the country and into towns and cities to find work. Roads, railway lines, and canals all split hunting countries, but at the same time they made hunting accessible to more people. Shotguns were improved during the nineteenth century and the shooting of gamebirds became more popular. Fox hunting developed further in the eighteenth century when Hugo Meynell developed breeds of hound and horse to address the new geography of rural England.
In Germany, hunting with hounds was first banned on the initiative of Hermann Göring on 3 July 1934. In 1939, the ban was extended to cover Austria after Germany's annexation of the country. Bernd Ergert, the director of Germany's hunting museum in Munich, said of the ban, "The aristocrats were understandably furious, but they could do nothing about the ban given the totalitarian nature of the regime."
United States
According to the Masters of Foxhounds Association of America, Englishman Robert Brooke was the first man to import hunting hounds to what is now the United States, bringing his pack of foxhounds to Maryland in 1650, along with his horses. Also around this time, numbers of European red foxes were introduced into the Eastern seaboard of North America for hunting. The first organised hunt for the benefit of a group was started by Thomas, sixth Lord Fairfax in 1747. In the United States, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both kept packs of foxhounds before and after the American Revolutionary War.Australia
In Australia, the European red fox was introduced solely for the purpose of fox hunting in 1855. Native animal populations have been very badly affected, with the extinction of at least 10 species attributed to the spread of foxes. Fox hunting with hounds is mainly practised in the east of Australia. In the state of Victoria there are thirteen hunts, with more than 1000 members between them. Fox hunting with hounds results in around 650 foxes being killed annually in Victoria, compared with over 90,000 shot over a similar period in response to a State government bounty.The Adelaide Hunt Club traces its origins to 1840, just a few years after the colonization of South Australia.
Current status
United Kingdom
Fox hunting is prohibited in Great Britain by the Protection of Wild Mammals Act 2002 and the Hunting Act 2004, passed under the ministry of Tony Blair, but remains legal in Northern Ireland.The passing of the Hunting Act was notable in that it was implemented through the use of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, after the House of Lords refused to pass the legislation, despite the Commons passing it by a majority of 356 to 166.
After the ban on fox hunting, hunts in Great Britain switched to legal alternatives, such as drag hunting and trail hunting. The Hunting Act 2004 also permits some previously unusual forms of hunting wild mammals with dogs to continue, such as "hunting... for the purpose of enabling a bird of prey to hunt the wild mammal".
Opponents of hunting, such as the League Against Cruel Sports, claim that some of these alternatives are a smokescreen for illegal hunting or a means of circumventing the ban. Hunting support group Countryside Alliance said in 2006 that there was anecdotal evidence that the number of foxes killed by hunts and farmers had increased since the Hunting Act came into force, both by the hunts and landowners, and that more people were hunting with hounds.
Tony Blair wrote in A Journey, his memoirs published in 2010, that the Hunting Act of 2004 is 'one of the domestic legislative measures I most regret'.
The Labour Party's 2024 general election manifesto includes a pledge to ban trail hunting. Following their election, it was announced that the ban would feature in its new animal welfare strategy, with consultations to begin in early 2026 as to how to deliver an effective ban.
United States
In America, fox hunting is also called "fox chasing", as it is the practice of many hunts not to actually kill the fox. Some hunts may go without catching a fox for several seasons, despite chasing two or more foxes in a single day's hunting. Foxes are not pursued once they have "gone to ground". American fox hunters undertake stewardship of the land, and endeavour to maintain fox populations and habitats as much as possible. In many areas of the eastern United States the coyote, a natural predator of the red and grey fox, is becoming more prevalent and threatens fox populations in a hunt's given territory. In some areas, coyote are considered fair game when hunting with foxhounds, even if they are not the intended species being hunted.In 2013, the Masters of Foxhounds Association of North America listed 163 registered packs in the US and Canada. This number does not include non-registered packs. Baily's Hunting Directory Lists 163 foxhound or draghound packs in the US and 11 in Canada In some arid parts of the Western United States, where foxes in general are more difficult to locate, coyotes are hunted and, in some cases, bobcats.
Other countries
The other main countries in which organized fox hunting with hounds is practised are Ireland, Australia, France, Canada and Italy. There is one pack of foxhounds in Portugal, and one in India. Although there are 32 packs for the hunting of foxes in France, hunting tends to take place mainly on a small scale and on foot, with mounted hunts tending to hunt red or roe deer, or wild boar.In Portugal fox hunting is permitted but there have been popular protests and initiatives to abolish it. A petition was handed over to the Assembly of the Republic on 18 May 2017 and the parliamentary hearing held in 2018.
In Canada, the Masters of Foxhounds Association of North America lists seven registered hunt clubs in the province of Ontario, one in Quebec, and one in Nova Scotia. Ontario issues licenses to registered hunt clubs, authorizing its members to pursue, chase or search for fox, although the primary target of the hunts is coyotes.
Quarry animals
Red fox
The red fox is the normal prey animal of a fox hunt in the US and Europe. A small omnivorous predator, the fox lives in burrows called earths, and is predominantly active around twilight. Adult foxes tend to range around an area of between in good terrain, although in poor terrain, their range can be as much as. The red fox can run at up to. The fox is also variously known as a Tod, Reynard, or Charlie. American red foxes tend to be larger than European forms, but according to foxhunters' accounts, they have less cunning, vigour and endurance in the chase than European foxes.Coyote, grey fox, and other quarry
Other species than the red fox may be the quarry for hounds in some areas. The choice of quarry depends on the region and numbers available.The coyote is a significant quarry for many Hunts in North America, particularly in the west and southwest, where there are large open spaces. The coyote is an indigenous predator that did not range east of the Mississippi River until the latter half of the twentieth century. The coyote is faster than a fox, running at and also wider ranging, with a territory of up to, so a much larger hunt territory is required to chase it. However, coyotes tend to be less challenging intellectually, as they offer a straight line hunt instead of the convoluted fox line. Coyotes can be challenging opponents for the dogs in physical confrontations, despite the size advantage of a large dog. Coyotes have larger canine teeth and are generally more practised in hostile encounters.
The grey fox, a distant relative of the European red fox, is also hunted in North America. It is an adept climber of trees, making it harder to hunt with hounds. The scent of the gray fox is not as strong as that of the red, therefore more time is needed for the hounds to take the scent. Unlike the red fox which, during the chase, will run far ahead from the pack, the gray fox will speed toward heavy brush, thus making it more difficult to pursue. Also unlike the red fox, which occurs more prominently in the northern United States, the more southern gray fox is rarely hunted on horseback, due to its densely covered habitat preferences.
Hunts in the southern United States sometimes pursue the bobcat. In countries such as India, and in other areas formerly under British influence, such as Iraq, the golden jackal is often the quarry. During the British Raj, British sportsmen in India would hunt jackals on horseback with hounds as a substitute for the fox hunting of their native England. Unlike foxes, golden jackals were documented to be ferociously protective of their pack mates, and could seriously injure hounds. Jackals were not hunted often in this manner, as they were slower than foxes and could scarcely outrun greyhounds after.