THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 16, 1996 TAG: 9604160338
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LEESBURG LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Animal rights activists and hunters are debating the merits of allowing fox hunting inside fenced enclosures stocked with previously trapped foxes.
The Virginia Board of Game and Inland Fisheries later this month will consider regulating the approximately 20 ``fox pens'' that have been established in the state in the past 11 years.
Animal rights activists and some fox hunters say the 100- to 300-acre pens offer ``canned hunts'' that don't give foxes enough chances to escape and could speed the spread of rabies and other diseases.
``This ought to be anathema to any fair hunter,'' said Susan Hagood, a wildlife issues specialist at the Humane Society of the United States. ``When wildlife doesn't have a chance to escape, it can't be fair.''
The pens are used both by night hunters, who simply allow their hounds to chase the foxes, and hunters who follow their dogs on horseback. While the night hunters see pen chases as sport, the mounted fox hunters use the enclosures to train inexperienced hounds in an environment free of deer and other distractions.
The debate over the future of the pens has drawn impassioned crowds to public hearings and has divided Northern Virginia's mounted fox-hunting community.
``We think (the pens) are a fantastic teaching and reinforcing device,'' said Dennis J. Foster, director of the national Masters of Foxhounds Association, based in Leesburg.
Foster and other supporters said foxes rarely are killed in the enclosures. The proposed state regulations require pens to include a dog-proof artificial fox den every 20 acres, which they said will protect tired foxes from dog attacks.
``The thrill is in the chase,'' said Jim Gable, the master of Loudoun Hunt West, who uses pens to train his dogs. ``We've never killed (a fox) in a pen.''
But opponents are not convinced. They point to a 1994 report by the game department's wildlife division that says pens offer dogs ``a very high probability'' of chasing and attacking a fox.
``If they're not killing them, they're at least putting the foxes in a stressed environment surrounded by a wire fence. These foxes can't go anywhere,'' said Katharine Kingsley, a Loudoun fox hunter. ``It's crazy to be promoting this. . . . It gives fox hunting a bad image.''
Under the proposed regulations, pen owners would be allowed to trap foxes seven months a year, instead of the current 11 weeks.
Most proponents said regulating the pens would be better than allowing them on an ad hoc basis. And, they said, the enclosures could wind up protecting more animals than do open hunts.
``Is it sport to have your hounds killed by a car?'' Foster said. ``Where we get the controversy is because this has got a fence around it. But if you look at it from a larger perspective, you've got a much fairer and more humane situation than many other types of hunting.''
William Rokus, a Leesburg veterinarian who has been night hunting for 40 years, said the pens do not put foxes at a disadvantage.
``I've never seen a fox caught in a pen,'' Rokus said. ``They run my dogs ragged. In fact, I've often felt sorry for the hounds, but I've never seen a fox I could feel sorry for.''
KEYWORDS: FOX HUNTING by CNB