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The Masters of the Andrews Bridge Foxhounds—George Strawbridge Jr., Steve Harris, Betsy Harris, Cathy Huston, and Bill Kimmel—made public the following statement:

We are pleased to report that all litigation between the Cromptons, the Harrises, and the Andrews Bridge Foxhounds Inc. has been resolved. It was decided that in the best interest of our sport, the two Andrews Bridge hound packs should be reunited and again hunt as one unified pack in our territory.

Like everything else in life, the hunt has taken many detours in the past 102 years and we have not been the exception. A journey is not a single straight line, but rather a long up and down winding road.

Professor Stephen Harris is an opponent of hunting and was serving as an expert witness in the prosecution of a huntsman on trial in the UK for illegally hunting the fox with dogs. Harris’s testimony was thrown out, however, after he was seen being kissed by another witness. That witness was known to be a veteran anti-hunting campaigner, and the cozy relationship between the two eloquently refuted Harris’s supposed role as an independent witness. Professor Harris argued that he was kissed before he could stop the kisser. But Wills’ defense counsel, Stephen Welford, argued that the kissee could no longer be regarded as an independent witness in the case, given his demonstrably close relationship with the woman, another prosecution witness. District Judge Tim Daber agreed, saying, “The allegation of bias specific to this particular case is something that in my view the court cannot ignore. A reasonable observer would consider him to be partisan. However unbiased he may be, this court must exclude Professor Harris’s evidence.” Longtime huntsman Mick Wills of the Grafton Foxhounds (UK) was found not guilty. Professor Harris’ friends too often appear to interfere with his testimony. Several years earlier, another prosecution brought privately by the League Against Cruel Sport (LACS) against six members of the Lamerton Hunt (UK) collapsed when the court learned that Professor Harris was a friend of Paul Tilsley, head of investigations for the LACS. Click for the complete story by Patrick Sawer, senior news reporter for The Telegraph. We don’t know if the article was filed under Court Beat or the Gossip Column, but the link will take you there. Posted July 11, 2019

Brenda Milne―widow of the late Ian Milne, namesake of the MFHA’s prestigious Ian Milne Award to huntsmen―died on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. A celebration of her life will be held at the Warrenton Community Center on Saturday, April 13 from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. (The Center is located near Wal-Mart across from the State Police Station.) Brenda was a loyal supporter of hounds and foxhunting, and she earned the love and friendship of foxhunting people all across the country. In concert with Ian, a Yorkshireman, Brenda was the most hospitable hostess to young huntsmen and whipper-in emigres to North America. She helped Ian in befriending them and bonding them with their peers, thus connecting them to the fraternity and support group of professional hunt staff across their new environment. Brenda and Ian did this every year by throwing a huge Saturday night party at their home the evening before the Virginia Foxhound Show. It was the place to be for every huntsman and aspirant attending the large hound show. Beer and soft drinks will be provided at Brenda’s memorial by the organizers. Please bring a potluck dish to share. In lieu of flowers, donations in Brenda’s memory may be made to the MFHA’s Hunt Staff Benefit Foundation ([email protected] or call 540-955-5680). Posted April 2, 2019

You are forgiven for assuming that The County Down Club is in Northern Ireland. Actually, it’s in Shanghai, China, and is described as the first exclusive club for horsemanship and foxhunting there. The County Down Club takes advantage of the country’s growing economy—now the second largest in the world. Established three years ago by Steven Sun whose interest in horses was sparked while studying in Britain, the club has about eighty members who pay an annual membership fee of $8,400. The facility features an indoor swimming pool, a gym, a piano, and a dozen horses. Sun takes members foxhunting in Europe and has four Thoroughbreds racing in France. Equestrian sport “has developed rapidly in China during the past five to ten years,” according to Sun, and enjoys a growing interest. China’s Horsemanship magazine reports there were 1,802 equestrian clubs in China as of July 2018—double the number in 2016. The majority are located in northern and eastern China, Beijing and Shanghai primarily, according to the magazine. Such growth is likely to continue, the Chinese government having stated in 2014 that equestrian sports were to be “strongly supported.” Another recently founded equestrian company is WonderHorse, which provides products and services. Founder Zoe Quin is based in Shanghai and was formerly the chief representative in China for French-based LeCheval. The industry is “booming” for two main reasons,” said Quin.“Chinese parents consider horse riding an elite education to make their kids more outstanding in this highly competitive Chinese society. “As for adults, they can extend their participation in equestrian sports beyond riding into broader aspects such as ownership, investment, travel, leisure and social activities.” Only a two-hour drive from Shanghai is the horse-themed ‘Pegasus Water Town,’ complete with hotels, art gallery, a mall with Venice-style gondolas, an equestrian club, and a Horse Culture Museum. The ‘Town’ has more than 400 horses of many breeds, and visitors form long queues for horse-drawn carriage tours. There are lavishly costumed parades and horse performances in a menage that the official website calls an Austro-Hungarian Empire style, and over which hangs a familiar giant portrait of Napoleon on a rearing white horse. (Think “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” by Jacques-Louis David.) Click for more details in Chiang Rai Times. Posted January 2, 2019

A Master and whipper-in, both of the Duke of Buccleuch’s Foxhounds accused in the Jedburgh Sheriff Court on October 8th of breaching Scotland’s fox-hunting laws, were found not guilty by Sheriff Peter Paterson on December 8, 2018. The five-day trial of Huntsman Timothy Allen, MFH, and whipper-in Shaun Anderson centered on video recordings covertly filmed by investigators from the League Against Cruel Sports. Since no footage of the fox included any images of huntsman Allen, and images of Allen included no images of the fox, the court found there was no case to answer on Allen’s part. Foxhunters in Scotland may lawfully flush a fox to a gun, but are prohibited from chasing them. Allen was told he was free to leave the dock. Whipper-in Anderson, in his turn, claimed he did all he could to control hounds when the fox emerged. Since Scotland’s Hunting Act prohibits the deliberate pursuit of a fox by hounds, and absent proof of a deliberate chase, Sheriff Paterson found insufficient evidence for a conviction and pronounced Anderson not guilty as well. The Sheriff went on to criticize the language of the current hunting legislation regarding the search for and flushing of foxes. So what is in the future? Both pro- and anti-hunting activists in Scotland and England decry the current hunting legislation and recommend changes. Obviously, the legislation changes recommended by each side are incompatible. Jamie Stewart, director of the Scottish Countryside Alliance, said he was pleased that both Allen and Anderson had been found not guilty and noted the frustration involved for all when cases end up in court with little or no evidence against them. Robbie Marsland, director of the League Against Cruel Sports, declared that the legislation is not fit for the purpose and needs to be strengthened. Since the Scottish hunting act was introduced sixteen years ago, there has been just one successful prosecution against mounted foxhunting. Posted December 11, 2018

Timothy Allen, MFH and Shaun Anderson, huntsman of the Duke of Buccleuch’s Hunt in Scotland appeared in the Jedburgh Sheriff Court on October 8th on a charge of breaching Scotland’s Protection of Wild Mammals Act by deliberately hunting a fox with a pack of hounds. The pair pled not guilty. Last year, Johnny Riley and his father John Clive Richardson, MFH of the Jedforest Foxhounds were found guilty of breaching the foxhunting laws. Their conviction was the first under the act since its passage in 2002. Evidence in the Buccleuch action was given by a director of the League Against Cruel Sports in Scotland. The LACS has engaged teams to covertly film the country’s ten hunts. As in the Jedforest case, video evidence will be the crux of the prosecution’s case. LACS is working to tighten Scotland’s hunting laws. One sheep farmer in support of the hunt claims to lose at least one hundred lambs every year to foxes, harming his revenue and devastating to the sheep. Three days of evidence have been heard, and the trial has been adjourned until December 4. Posted October 12, 2018

The Associated Press has reported the closure of six fox pens in the aftermath of an investigation by the Animal Law Unit of the Attorney General’s office in Virginia. Twenty-three fox pens in the Commonwealth remain open. Nine people pleaded guilty for stocking the pens with illegally purchased wildlife and face fines and suspended sentences. The six pens that had their licenses revoked are located in the counties of Buckingham, Lunenburg, Appomattox, Dinwiddie, King and Queen, and Brunswick. Two are permanently shut down; four could potentially reopen if the verdicts are appealed and overturned. In general, wildlife may not be purchased and sold in Virginia. Pen owners may legally contract with trappers to provide foxes, compensation for which must be based on the trapper’s time and effort for the service. A law passed in 2014 is intended to eventually phase out fox penning entirely. No new fox pens may be licensed in Virginia, but the existing pens were grandfathered and eventually will have to close. Some mounted foxhunting clubs use fox pens to train puppies. The pens are also used by individuals who simply enjoy running their hounds. Foxes are provided with refuges within the pen to allow them to escape hounds when pressed. Licensing rules also limit the number of hounds that may be in a pen at any one time. However, fox pens have been under fire from animal rights activists for years. Other foxhound breeders, night hunters, and field trial enthusiasts are said to use pens for competitions and betting, according to opponents. Bob Duncan, executive director of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, said that fox penning is a way to have sport with hounds without the danger of running through crops or causing accidents on the highway. The fox pens are popular, he said, and people come from states all across the country to train and run their dogs. Posted July 20, 2018

French President Emmanuel Macron is calling for the tradition of “presidential hunts” to be revived. This in the face of increasing public support for a ban on hunting with hounds. Presidential hunts were abolished in 2010 by then President Nicholas Sarkozy. One a useful asset in French diplomacy, according to Macron, presidential hunting parties were arranged for visiting world leaders to experience a part of French culture. With almost four hundred registered hunts—more than any other nation—stag and deer hunting still flourishes in France. “I will be the president who develops hunting,” Macron told a recent meeting of the French Hunters’ Federation, according to David Chazan, writing for The Telegraph. Presidential hunts grew out of the royal hunts introduced in the late sixteenth century by King Francois I. The hunts were held on the grounds of the Chateau de Chambord in the Loire Valley and in other stately homes. While a recent poll determined that eighty-four percent of citizens were in favor of a hunting ban as introduced by a far-left politician, an actual ban is deemed unlikely. Click for more details. Posted April 3, 2018