The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has today called on the Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith, to outlaw the horrendous practice of digging out foxes, with the use of dogs. We have written to all TDs and Senators, calling for their support for legislation against this barbarism.

This practice is, unbelievably, legal in this country, and is carried out by mounted hunts and gangs of what can only be described as thugs and sadists who go out into the countryside with their terriers to

engage in fox baiting, similar to badger baiting. See attached pictures showing some of these individuals as well as gruesome injuries suffered by foxes and terriers. Believed to be from locations in Ireland, the images were forwarded to us by a UK animal welfare group, and are posted on a website entitled www.moochershunting.com (to access the site's postings, registration is required).

Please also see the "Stop digging out in Ireland" slideshow video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fld-e3hqFjY

We have long been calling for this practice of digging out foxes to be made illegal, and as far back as 1999, we made a submission to the then Minister for Agriculture, Joe Walsh, calling for it to be outlawed. On that occasion, we gave him appalling video footage showing a fox being dug out of its earth, a terrier biting into its head while the fox was biting the terrier's paw; and then the fox, with a gaping wound on its scalp, is dumped in a fertilizer bag, and then thrown at close range before a pack of hounds to be ripped to shreds. The hunt in question was the South Union hunt, a mounted fox hunt, and affiliated to the Irish Masters of Foxhounds Association. See attached link to video: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x54eit_ban-foxhunting-in-ireland_animals

The Minister called in the Masters of Foxhounds, and we also met veterinary officials at the Department to put forward our case. We had hoped, at the very least, that the practice of digging out of foxes gone to ground would be outlawed. However, the following year, the Minister announced that he had agreed a Code of Conduct with the foxhunters which, disappointingly, allowed for the continuance of digging out (see copy below).

The fact that digging out remains an integral part of foxhunting in Ireland can be seen in the foxhunters' so-called code of conduct which states that "Only one terrier at a time may be used to locate the fox except in rocks, stacks of bales or stick piles, etc., where one terrier is unable to locate the fox...Digging shall only be conducted by a small number of experienced people and assistants appointed by the Master or his nominee." It also highlights their desire to keep this appalling act away from the public eye, stressing that "reasonable efforts shall be made to ensure that digging out will not become a public spectacle."

We have appealed to Minister Smith to outlaw this horrific practice of digging out foxes from the earth with the use of terriers, which is a sadistic "sport" engaged in by psychologically flawed people who like to torture animals, and take pleasure in their suffering, including the suffering of their own dogs. Badger baiting, dog fighting and cock fighting are illegal in this country, so the next and logical step should be to urgently ban the heinous practice of fox digging and baiting.

Aideen Yourell

Campaign Director

IRISH COUNCIL AGAINST BLOOD SPORTS

Tel: 044-93-49848 and 086-2636265