Foxes were terrorised by a pack of 25 dogs at a recent “children’s hunt” in County Cork.
A sickening 6 January 2023 report in the Irish Field revealed that the Duhallow hunt, which started near Kanturk, passed over a road and “hounds found a fox after crossing the river.”
The unfortunate fox was chased into farmland and hounds hunted until, according to the report, he “found refuge” in a shore.
Later, another fox was targeted and was “hunted over some really decent country before swinging left-handed back into Jarvey’s over a really decent Duhallow double”.
The report stated that “while many hunts have shied away from having children’s meets this season”, the Duhallow hunt held one to “let good young riders get up close and see hounds work”.
The hunt – one of whose masters is Fianna Fail Cork County Councillor Pat Hayes – is affiliated to the Irish Masters of Foxhounds Association and during the hunting season, it terrorises foxes three days a week on Mondays, Wednesday and Saturdays.
Its past victims have included a fox who was chased by 37 hounds for over 13 miles. See below for more details.
Since 2011, the Duhallow hunt has received at least €635,250 in point-to-point racing grants from taxpayer-fund Horse Racing Ireland.
Point-to-point racing is a major fundraiser for foxhunts and is effectively propping up many hunts around the country. It is believed that without the Horse Racing Ireland grants, race events would not be viable and this would likely lead to the demise of foxhunts.
Shame on the Irish Government for disregarding the wishes of the majority and allowing this bloodsport to continue.
A RED C opinion poll, commissioned by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports, found that a 77% majority agree that the Irish Government should BAN FOX HUNTING, with just 12% disagreeing with a ban. A majority in both rural and urban areas are in favour of a ban. Please respond to our action alert below and join calls for a long overdue ban.
SEE ALSO:
Over €10 million in grants to hunts around Ireland
Revealed: Fianna Fail Councillor is foxhunt master
ACTION ALERT
Contact the leaders of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, the Green Party, Sinn Fein and Labour to demand a ban on fox hunting, hare coursing and all bloodsports.
Micheál Martin
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1–618 4350 or +353 (0)21-432 0088
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Leo Varadkar
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: +353 (0)1-704 3630 OR +353 (0)1-640 3133
Email: leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Eamon Ryan
Leader, Green Party
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan
Mary Lou McDonald TD
Leader, Sinn Fein
Tel: (01) 727 7102
Email: marylou.mcdonald@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLouMcDonald
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MaryLouMcDonaldTD
Ivana Bacik TD
Leader, The Labour Party
Tel: (01) 6183136
Email: ivana.bacik@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ivanabacik
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bacikivana/
Contact Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Green Party, Sinn Fein and Labour Party TDs and tell them to back a ban.
Email Fianna Fail TDs
micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; john.mcguinness@oireachtas.ie; niamh.smyth@oireachtas.ie; brendan.smith@oireachtas.ie; aindrias.moynihan@oireachtas.ie; michael.moynihan.td@oireachtas.ie; Charlie.McConalogue@oireachtas.ie; michael.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie; sean.haughey@oireachtas.ie; jim.ocallaghan@oireachtas.ie; darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie; jack@jackchambers.ie; anne.rabbitte@oireachtas.ie; eamon.ocuiv@oireachtas.ie; james.lawless@oireachtas.ie; sean.ofearghail@oireachtas.ie; sean.fleming@oireachtas.ie; barry.cowen@oireachtas.ie; willie.odea@oireachtas.ie; niall.collins@oireachtas.ie; Robert.Troy@oireachtas.ie; dara.calleary@oireachtas.ie; thomas.byrne@oireachtas.ie; marc.macsharry@oireachtas.ie; jackie.cahill@oireachtas.ie; mary.butler@oireachtas.ie; james.browne@oireachtas.ie; jennifer.murnaneoconnor@oireachtas.ie; cathal.crowe@oireachtas.ie; james.oconnor@oireachtas.ie; padraig.osullivan@oireachtas.ie; christopher.osullivan@oireachtas.ie; paul.mcauliffe@oireachtas.ie; john.lahart@oireachtas.ie; cormac@cormacdevlin.ie; normafoley1@eircom.net; joe.flaherty@oireachtas.ie; Stephen.Donnelly@oireachtas.ie
Email Fine Gael TDs
leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; JohnPaul.Phelan@oireachtas.ie; Heather.Humphreys@oireachtas.ie; joe.carey@oireachtas.ie; david.stanton@oir.ie; colm.burke@oireachtas.ie; michael.creed@oireachtas.ie; Simon.Coveney@oireachtas.ie; joe.mchugh@oireachtas.ie; richard.bruton@oireachtas.ie; Paschal.Donohoe@oireachtas.ie; Alan.Farrell@oireachtas.ie; emer.higgins@oireachtas.ie; neale.richmond@oireachtas.ie; josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie; colm.brophy@oireachtas.ie; jennifer.carrollmacneill@oireachtas.ie; Ciaran.Cannon@oireachtas.ie; hildegarde.naughton@oireachtas.ie; Brendan.Griffin@oireachtas.ie; bernard.durkan@oireachtas.ie; Martin.Heydon@oireachtas.ie; charles.flanagan@oireachtas.ie; kieran.odonnell@oireachtas.ie; Patrick.O’Donovan@oireachtas.ie; peter.burke@oireachtas.ie; fergus.odowd@oireachtas.ie; alan.dillon@oireachtas.ie; michael.ring@oireachtas.ie; helen.mcentee@oireachtas.ie; damien.english@oireachtas.ie; frank.feighan@oireachtas.ie; paul.kehoe@oireachtas.ie; Simon.Harris@oireachtas.ie
Email Green Party TDs
Eamon.Ryan@greenparty.ie; catherine.martin@oireachtas.ie; patrick.costello@oireachtas.ie; francisnoel.duffy@oireachtas.ie; neasa.hourigan@oireachtas.ie; brian.leddin@oireachtas.ie; steven.matthews@oireachtas.ie; malcolm.noonan@oireachtas.ie; joe.obrien@oireachtas.ie; marc.ocathasaigh@oireachtas.ie; roderic.ogorman@oireachtas.ie; ossian.smyth@oireachtas.ie
Email Sinn Fein TDs
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Email Labour Party TDs
ivana.bacik@oireachtas.ie; brendan.howlin@oireachtas.ie; sean.sherlock@oireachtas.ie; aodhan.oriordain@oireachtas.ie; duncan.smith@oireachtas.ie; gerald.nash@oireachtas.ie; Alan.Kelly@oireachtas.ie
Sign and share our “Ban Blood Sports in Ireland” petition
https://www.change.org/petitions/ban-blood-sports-in-ireland
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DUHALLOW HUNT CRUELTY
Fox pursued by 37 hounds for over 13 miles
16 January 2015
A fox was pursued for over 13 miles during a hunt in County Cork last month, it has been revealed. According to an Irish Field report about a pre-Christmas Duhallow hunt, the unfortunate fox was disturbed near Churchtown and chased through a bog and a wood before being “marked to ground” near a golf club.
In foxhunting, “marking to ground” refers to the point when the pack of hounds chase the exhausted fox into an earth or drain. This is typically followed by the arrival of a terrierman who sends a terrier down the hole to attack and corner the fox until the clay is dug away from above, before the fox is killed.
The Irish Field report refers to the persecuted fox as “a smashing dog fox who set his mask for the Bog of Annagh”. The pack of 37 dogs chased the fox through Ardglass Wood and towards Dromina village “before swinging back and marking their fox to ground near Charleville Golf Club”.
The report outlines that the fox’s ordeal lasted for a distance of 13.2 miles, eight miles of which was covered in one hour and 40 minutes.
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“Hounds drew a small covert near the church. Almost immediately first season litter siblings Treason and Tracer opened and a dog fox was away.” from a report on the Duhallow Foxhounds, Irish Field, 13 February 2015
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Terror as hunt invades farmyard
28 February 2007
A 6-year-old boy was left hysterical and screaming in terror as Ireland’s oldest hunt came thundering through a farmyard in County Cork last Thursday. The boy’s mother told RTE’s Liveline programme that she feared for her children’s safety and roared at the hunters to get out.
Speaking to presenter Derek Davis, Margo O’Keeffe described how mounted hunters from the Duhallow Foxhounds rode around the side of a barn on the Milford farm and came so close to her that muck was spattered on to her clothes. “The hunt horses came within three yards of the concrete yard where my kids were playing,” she said.
“[Me and my aunt] went out obviously – because my children were out there and I wanted to protect my children – and we started roaring at them to get out of there, they had no permission,” she added. “They were so close to me that there were spatters of muck on my clothes. I was shouting at my children to stay behind me. My son was hysterical; he was running around the yard and I was shouting at him to get into the house.”
The aunt expressed her upset at the incident. “I was very upset and very angry,” she said. “It was the fact that this was an invasion [into] a private farm in a private area. We should be entitled to that privacy.”
She also told of how her fear for the safety of the children prompted her to lob stones into the air to try and divert the hunters away from the yard. She insisted that she was aiming to miss the horses but, regardless, one of the men on horseback gave her this abusive response: “if that f***ing stone hits my horse, I’ll put that f***ing stone straight through your window.”
Ban Bloodsports 
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