California Bans Hunting Bear, Bobcat with Hounds
California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill banning the hunting of bear and bobcat with hounds in that state. The bill was opposed throughout the legislative process by pro-hunting groups. Its enactment on Wednesday, September 26, 2012 represents a big success for the Humane Society of the United States, the animal rights organization […]
Deep Run Hunt Marks 125th Anniversary
Members of the Deep Run Hunt (est. 1887) near Richmond, Virginia, marked their 125th anniversary on Sunday, September 30, 2012 with a day of celebration, awards, and the introduction of a new book by Aynsley Miller Fisher recounting the hunt’s history. For the Love of the Sport—The Horses, Hounds, Foxes and Friends of the Deep […]
British Hunting Ban an Accident?
Former British Home Secretary Jack Straw says that the passage of the foxhunting ban in England was the result of a misstatement by then Prime Minister Tony Blair. In Straw’s just-published memoir, he claims Blair was “put on the spot” by a question on live TV and “accidentally” announced he would support a hunting ban. […]
Dr. Bruce Dalton, MFH, Killed in Plane Crash
Dr. Bruce Dalton, MFH of the Red Mountain Foxhounds in Rougemont, North Carolina, was killed last week when his single-engine plane crashed in Colorado. Dalton was sixty-nine and a certified, experienced pilot. His friend and passenger, Steven Huber, an instrument-rated commercial pilot was also killed. The crash is under investigation. Dalton was a pediatrician and […]
Irving Abb Dead at Eighty-six
Irving Victor Marken Abb died at his home in Woodbine, Maryland on July 13, 2012 at age eighty-six. Mr. Abb was a passionate foxhunter. He kept a private pack of hounds in Howard County, Maryland in the 1970s. He helped organize the Carrollton Hounds and, after he stopped riding horses, followed the Goshen Hounds in […]
FBI Probes Actions of Connecticut MFH
According to an Associated Press report, on July 11, the FBI raided the Bridgewater, Connecticut Town Hall for, among other records, documents relating to a trust fund established in the 1920s to benefit the town’s needy. Until recently the fund has been controlled by the town’s First Selectmen of nearly thirty years, William Stuart, MFH […]
Hound Hunting Bill Passes California Assembly
A bill that will ban the hunting of bear and bobcat with hounds (SB1221) was passed by the California State Assembly on August 22, 2012. Because it was amended in the Assembly, it must be passed again by the State Senate, after which it will go to the Governor for signature. SB1221 passed the Senate […]
MFH and Hunt Worker Found Guilty of Illegal Foxhunting in UK
Two representatives of the Meynell and South Staffordshire Foxhounds were found guilty of hunting the fox with dogs under the 2002 Hunting Act. John Greenall, MFH was fined ₤3,000 and hunt worker Glenn Morris was fined ₤250 in Magistrates’ Court after a two-day trial.. The prosecution was bolstered by a video taken by hunt monitors […]
Foxhunter Becomes World-Class Carriage Driving Expert
Ed Young—newly appointed to the five-member FEI (international) Driving Technical Committee—was plucked from the Genesee Valley hunting field in the mid-1970s by Bill Remley, founder of the Walnut Hill Carriage Driving Competition in New York State. Remley recognized Young’s math, organizational, and leadership skills and asked him to help out with the scoring in an […]
New Mexico Horse Owners Support Slaughterhouse Proposal
A group of horse owners and equestrian clubs in New Mexico are in favor of the establishment of a horse slaughter facility in their state. The group says that the closing of the last such facility in the U.S. five years ago has caused “needless suffering under the cruelest conditions.” In a letter to Governor […]