Unmanned Drones to Spy on Foxhunters in England
The League Against Cruel Sports (LAS) has announced its intention to use unmanned drones with video cameras to bolster their prosecutions in court against illegal hunting in England. A spokesman said they would provide the evidence to police. The LAS claims that the airspace above private property is free and open to their surveillance. They […]
Horse Slaughter Likely to Resume in U.S.
Horse processing is likely to resume in the U.S. after six years without the availability of domestic slaughtering facilities. The last horse slaughtering plant in the U.S. closed in 2007 when Congress forbad the USDA from inspecting horse meat for human consumption. Since then, horses destined for European and other foreign food markets have been […]
Blue Ridge Hunt Point-to-Point Postponed
The Blue Ridge Hunt point-to-point races scheduled for Saturday, March 9 have been postponed until Sunday, April 21 due to the heavy snowfall in the Shenandoah Valley. Posted March 6, 2013
University Students Promote Foxhunting
A group of students—foxhunting enthusiasts—at Greater Exeter University in the UK decided to introduce their non-hunting friends to the sport. They elected an MFH, appointed one of their members to be the fox, and fixed the time and place of the meet at one side of the campus. Any student with a bicycle was encouraged […]
American Foxhound Highly Regarded at Westminster
The smart money had the American foxhound and the affenpinscher dueling for top dog at Westminster last week. Jewel, the foxhound, won best of breed in the hound category, but, as everyone knows by now, it was the affenpinscher that was judged Best in Show. It’s often scary to see what AKC shows have done […]
Melanie Mathewes Named Exec Director at National Sporting Library
Culminating an extensive nationwide search, the National Sporting Library and Museum (NSLM) in Middleburg, Virginia has announced the appointment of Melanie Mathewes as its new Executive Director. For the last eight years, Mathewes has served as Executive Director of the Hermitage Museum and Gardens in Norfolk, Virginia. During her tenure, she oversaw the first strategic […]
Virginia Senate Passes Ban on Competition in Fox Pens
Yetserday the Virginia Senate passed Senate Bill 1280 which prohibits competitions in fox or coyote pens. This will affect foxhound field trials that use such enclosures for their sport. The bill also limits the number of dogs allowed in an enclosure to no more than five per acre. The bill does not curtail the use […]
Two New Jersey Farms Under Quarantine for EHV-1
Two farms in New Jersey—one in Gladstone, the other in Pompton Plains—are under quarantine for exposure to the neurologic form of equine herpes virus-1. A horse from the Gladstone farm that had attended a horse show in Newburgh, New York tested positive to the virus. After tracing the movements of the infected horse, the New […]
Foxhunting, Austrian Style
The traditional “Night of the Foxes” took place in Upper Styria, Austria over the last weekend in January, 2012. The tradition endures there as a way of controlling the fox population, balancing the natural environment, and protecting small game. Although details were sparse in the Austrian Times article, the hunting method seems to involve the […]
USDA Introduces Animal Traceability Program
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has instituted a new program—Animal Disease Traceability Program (ADTP)—to allow livestock (including horses) to be traced in the event of a disease outbreak. ADTP will apply to all interstate transport. How this traceability program will impact the Equine Interstate Event Permit (EIEP) program devised by states in the Southeast […]