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Not so Happy New Year for the hounds

Written by on 05 January, 2012 : 15:06

On the 2nd of January I had the pleasure of visiting Carmarthen, a busy and bustling town in West Wales. It has a pleasant mix of old - with it's Guildhall overlooking a traditional town square, and new - smart modern shopping centre with top name shops and cafes. A perfect destination for day out.

I had gone to meet the West Wales League Against Cruel Sport supporters group, who had organised a protest in the town centre. About 25 supporters turned up, with banners and placards and good spirits. I received a warm welcome, despite the cold weather.

The reason for the protest was the New Year's procession by the local hunt.

We assembled in the Guildhall Square, where the Master of the Hunt planned to address a crowd of onlookers. Passers-bys wished us 'good luck' and dropped money into our collections tins.

Soon the Hunt arrived. Fifteen scarlet and black coated riders, atop beautifully dressed horses. A fine sight, no matter your views. Then came the hounds and it was a different vision altogether. Thirty or more pitiful hounds slunk amongst the crowd; dirty and foul smelling, their eyes dull and their coats duller still.

The huntsman, who was right in front of me, blew his horn to summon them and the hounds came to him, baying. I could plainly see the sores, scabs and crusts on their hind legs.

 

One hound had a hairless growth the size of a golf ball hanging from its upper thigh. Another bore fight scars on its face and body. The young whipper-in (whose job it is to keep the pack together) walked amongst the hounds, patting a few. More than once a hound started back from him as if startled or afraid.

The conservation and animal welfare arguments used by hunters to support their cause are weak at best, but they are further undermined for me when I consider the way they treat their hounds. At the end of their working life, at about six or seven years old, the hounds are shot. There are rumours that some hunts may occaisionally feed the dead dogs to the pack. Moreover, the hunts over-breed puppies each year and many of these are also shot at age one, if they do not not make the grade in the pack.

It's no way to treat 'man's best friend'. Maybe Elvis said it best? “You ain't nothing but a hound dog, cryin' all the time. You ain't never caught a rabbit and you ain't no friend of mine.”

16 comments

carol bowen
They dont seem fussed on dogs at all in Carmarthen
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Richard
Any pictures or proof of this or are we supposed to take your word for it??
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Louise McIver
They are just a shower of silver spoon fed idiots, that have no respect for anything and the so called PM David Cameron supports them. He went on about the 'thugs' in the riots, well he not setting any good examples by supporting this cruel blood sport.
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Paula Spier
I lived in Carmarthen for a short while, I was horrified that this beautiful country was full of puppy farms etc right on my doorstep, i have worked in animal welfare for over 40 years , haveing my own rescue kennels for a local animal charity, Wales needs to clean up BIG TIME, I WAS ONCE TOLD see that van it leaves every Friday FULL of puppys from a local puppy farm to go on the continent .JUST HORRIBLE.
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Alan James
Pity we canna pop the huntspeople in the cattle truck for a few hours they have a arrogant attitude that makes the meakest person turn violent.
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Kate Thomas
A few years ago I watched a secretly filmed television documentary which followed a hunt, I cannot remember which one. What I can clearly remember is the way in which the hounds were treated. It was appalling, one hound needing veterinary treatment was denied it and yes it was shot as were hounds considered too old at about five or six years old, and again I'm sorry to say they were fed to the other dogs for I quote as I'll never forget the huntsman words "one last run." It was disgusting .The hounds were also starved for about two days before an actual hunt. The whole hunting issue is barbaric,animal lovers hunters are clearly not.
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K WATSON
Too typical although the more upmarket Hunts are careful to keep hounds good looking for the big showpiece meets! I have seen a hunhtsman go at hounds with a whip, snarling for no apparent reason other than to get them in a killing mood and from what I have heard of "puppies at walk" it just sounds like the survival of a feudal duty to one's overlord or landlord. The "walkers" don't seem to enjoy or have a vocation for their job and don't deal effectively with or prevent behaviour problems - training is just punishment if they catch a pup in the act. It is not surprising that hounds create havoc when they are into real hunting - if they survive the cubbing stage and aren't culled as "non conformers."
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LA Jenkins
It never ceases to amaze me how many of these cruel people surround themselves with animals. Surely they should be kept well away from them! Thank goodness for the League - good reporting. As for the young 'whipper-in' (name says it all don't you think), if the dogs shrank away from him, then you have to assume that he's been told how to 'behave appropriately' by other hunt members. So disgusting. Poor foxes, poor dogs.
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Geff Brightly
Hunters are beyond belief abusing wildlife, their hounds and others living in the countryside. They have no place in a civilised rural society. They reinforce each other's myths, false arguments and prejudices and it is they that are the real pests in the countryside. They treat others who live near them with total disregard and trample over their rights. I know I live in the countryside and only this week listened to three neighbours complaining about the local hunt's behaviour - in one case, destroying property on a farm and then refusing to own up to it..
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geff brighty
There is a nucleus of people in the hunting community who are incapable of appreciating the fact that they are serial abusers of wildlife, their own hounds and anyone that disagreees or gets in their way. These people are truly the real pests in the countryside. Only last week I came across three distressed neighbours - distressed by the way the local hunt behaved to its farmer neighbours. Because they live in a closed community these hunters reinforce each other's myths and prejudices and can not see the wood for the trees.
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Steven Davidson
So: you see diseased, dirty, maltreated animals covered in sores and scabs. I presume you then reported the apparent crime to the Police? If so, can we please have the crime reference number, and a follow-up on where the investigation now is? If not, you have ignored a serious animal welfare issue. Or, is this (as I suspect) pure invention, designed to detract from what was a total and lamentable failure of LACS to get its message across on Boxing Day and over the holiday period. When, if you'd noticed, all the papers were full of CA and pro-hunt propaganda.. I ask as a long-term supporter.
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sheryl
Steven I noticed that too ! I hope as a long-term supporter of the league you wrote in to the papers you read where these pro-hunt articles were placed ? I did to my local paper where they made it look like a fun day out for all the family, which is how they do this every year to spark the yearly arguments off and stir things up for "good" journalism.
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Mandy
I think before you comment on how the hunt look after thier animals in Camarthen, you should go and have a look at some puppy farms, thats real abuse. Hunting used to be for six months out of a year, these poor dogs have a lifetime of misery. Im not a hunt supporter but it's a shame that it gets more publicity because they hunt mangy foxes, when there is real suffering going on behind closed doors!!!! Also if foxes are not hunted, they will get shot, gassed or poisioned but i suppose that sits well with you people, as long as the killers are not wearing red coats and riding horses! Have a look at puppy farms, something that needs major support, to stop the evil trade, a real cause, if you can be bothered!
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sheryl
Mandy- Yes there is much cruelty and suffering with puppy farms, if you go to sites that fight against this you will find an awful lot of people who are as disgusted with this as you are and others on here are too, but this is a site which deals with cruelty against animals in "sport" The clue is in the websites title ! if you call foxes "mangy" it shows you agree with the hunts methods of ripping up these animals with hounds, it shows you do not have much empathy for ALL the creatures on this planet. Foxes get shot, gassed, and poisoned as well as hunted with hounds, this happens all the time it would not make any difference to the foxes numbers as all you pro's keep telling us you do not kill many anyway ? and no none of these methods sit well with "us people" ! I am a member of many anti-cruelty causes, I also have a rescued brood dog who was used and abused until her womb prolapsed and they did not need her any more, she was a very troubled dog who with much love and patience is now an awful lot more confident and happy. Yes I can be bothered as many other thousands of us on here are bothered, it is you that is not bothered, not bothered to see what cruelty fox hunting brings with it. Imagine a dog who has just had pups and a pack of dogs were sent in to chase the mother till exhaustion and trained to then rip her to pieces, then what ? why in your eyes is a life of a fox different to a life of a dog ? They are all living creatures Mandy, who all deserve to be treated fairly, a life is a life !
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sheryl
PS. look into the hunting hounds life, you will find a lifetime of misery there as well !!! This is real abuse too ! Get your facts straight Mandy ! Or don't you care about these animals either ?
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steve
I happened to visit a farm cloose to Camarthen a couple of weeks ago, for access to a river.It was a poor site, dirty, unmanaged and the home of 30 or more foxhound/lurcher hybrids, which are contracted out to local hunts. What constitutes cruelty to a dog-- it's a subjective view, and it might be difficult to prove this on this farm,but.... the animals were frightened of me and my party, except one which bit my leg. They seemed part feral, running round the yard and adjoining fields without any sensure or control, idyllic in one sense, but dangerous were a child to happen upon that area. The dogs did not appear to be cared for, and I'm pretty sure more than 1 was caged up in a windowless trailer. There was no sign of food or water. Maybe farmers in Wales keep their dogs like this, but you wouldn't. I believe the RSPCA needs to play a more active role in the control of this sort of animal neglect, I wonder what it thinks it's purpose is, in an environment of such animal abuse
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