October 3, 2010
The County Louth Foxhounds at Dunany Estate
Joy and Caroline Bellingham with huntsman Noel McKeever and hounds
Following the County Louth Foxhounds famous black, tan, and white Old English pack is a double pleasure when combined with one of its most popular autumn hunting meets, the Dunany Estate on the northeast coast of Ireland.
Despite the inconvenience of some of the issues presented by reaching the grand age of ninety-two, Joy Bellingham together with her daughter Caroline were out to view hounds draw the woods around their extensive estate. Both were enthusiastic followers of the Louth, Meath, and Kildare foxhounds when they hunted.
Cheltenham Week — On the Inside
Steeplechasing is hugely popular in England, and the Cheltenham Festival equates to our Triple Crown, Breeder’s Cup, and Gold Cup all rolled into one. So when I spoke with George Wagner, who runs Horse Racing Trips Worldwide in Ontario and takes groups to the great races of the world, I latched onto Cheltenham as the trip for foxhunters.
"Sixty thousand racing fans come for championship week at Cheltenham, half of whom are Irish!" says Wagner.
Now if that isn’t a recipe for a good time, I don’t know what is.
Eastern Coyote Is Part Wolf
The secret of the Eastern coyote was revealed just this year when scientists discovered wolf DNA in coyotes living in the U.S. Northeast. The scientists hypothesize that the Western coyotes mated with wolves as they migrated eastward north of the Great Lakes across Canada during the last century. The finding helps to explain why the Eastern coyotes are larger than their Western cousins, and why the colors of their coats vary—a predictable result of an out-cross. That the Eastern coyotes are more adept at deer hunting than their Western forebears is another observation that supports the hypothesis. The Western coyote tends to restrict its hunting to smaller game like voles and rabbits. Evidence that the animals thought for decades to be coyotes are in fact coyote-wolf hybrids was released by two research teams. Roland W. Kays, curator of mammals at the New York State Museum, led a team that studied coyotes from New Jersey to Maine. Jonathan Way, wildlife biologist with the Eastern Coyote Research consulting firm, and his colleagues studied coyotes around Cape Cod and Boston. Both teams published their papers independently. For more, see Carol Kaesuk Yoon’s September 27 article in the New York Times.October 3, 2010
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