Colourful spectacle - or just plain cruel?

I MUST say, it was disappointing to see the local media still portraying the Flint & Denbigh hunt in pretty pictures over the Christmas period, alongside the harmless, fun event “Roll the Barrel”.

But if my monitoring observations are correct, hunts are still abusing foxes as before, and by omitting this fact, the press are saying that it's alright for this barbarism to continue.

The message this gives out to the public is that hunts are above the law. 

I have monitored the F&D hunt twice in the last month and both times I've watched the huntmaster skirting the edge of a wood while dogs rampaged through it, trying to pick up the scent of a fox.

Fox terror - how can man be so evil?

I'm sure the hunt would argue it was only trail hunting. But if this were the case, then why the need to get ahead of the hounds to check if a fox had broken cover?

It might also argue it had guns present or even a bird of prey, but it didn't! 

Even if, however, it'd had these things, it would still have been allegedly committing an offence by allowing more than two hounds to chase a fox, let alone bite one to death. 

It's so depressing to hear prospective candidates like the Lib Dem’s Mark Young spouting off about hunting being a wonderful spectacle, and how he looks forward to seeing it made legal again.

Obviously Mr Young must think it's great to see an animal being tortured to death for the gratification of those who get their sick thrills from it.

I'm sure if much of the public had seen the terror in the eyes of the vixen I witnessed (five years ago, out towards Llansannan) being put to death along with her three cubs, then I would hope that the likes of Mark Young would never get voted in - otherwise I'd lose any hope for humanity.

Sabs rescue exhausted fox from the hunt - Pic from NWHS

But the thing that sickens me the most, is when the press depict the hunt as a harmless, colourful spectacle, conveniently ignoring the fact that the pretty pictures hide a grotesque cruelty that most decent people would lose sleep over.

Cruel hunters

And I'm not just talking about the long-suffering fox here -  the hounds pictured being petted and fawned over by spectators on Boxing day parades are also victims: they're shot long before they reach old age to make way for younger animals, with the exception of the odd favourite, I've no doubt. Any hound pups not making the grade are also dispatched.

To be honest, I find the whole sorry saga quite disgusting, which is why I dread hunt monitoring. But on Boxing day, I had the strangest feeling that I was not alone - I felt serenely calm (not like me at all!).

It was like I was being guarded by an unseen presence. I know its sounds mad, but that's how it felt at the time, and I've never felt anything like it before. 

Butchered fox - note the bite wounds to the tail. Pic from North West Hunt Saboteurs

But getting back to the media's involvement in hunting. It has to understand that we can't have one law for the rich and influential, and another for the poor.

There's no dignity in supporting obscene violence to animals by those who call it entertainment. 

This is why the press has got to stop defending the cruelty in our midst, or we are all lost.