fox pen

A bill declaring fox pen hunting to be a folklife heritage of the state of Louisiana was signed into law by Governor Bobby Jindal on Monday, June 9. Officially incorporated into Louisiana’s culture, fox pen hunting will be preserved under the provisions of the bill. The bill faced criticism, but one representative who supported the measure said that the sport goes back to Charlemagne and has been practiced in the state for years. The bill’s sponsor promoted it as a pro-hunting measure. Click for more details in Picayune Times article. Posted June 11, 2014

Virginia state game regulators recommended new regulations for the operation of foxhound training preserves. The proposed new regulations satisfied pen owners and disappointed animal rights activists. After a period of public comment, a final vote will be held by the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries in June. The recommendations apply to nearly forty preserves in Virginia, and if passed would require improvements such as rounded fence corners, improved escape routes and structures, and acclimation periods for new foxes. The moratorium sought by animal rights groups was considered but not included in the recommendations. However the board did call for the elimination of cash prizes in foxhound competitions. Davy Hackett, president of the Virginia Foxhound Training Preserve Owners Association, said the recommendations were a “common sense effort” to improve the operation of preserves, according to an Associated Press story by Steve Szkotak. Posted March 22, 2013

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 of pens as training enclosures by individuals or hunt clubs. Click for more information as published by Virginia’s Legislative Information System. Posted February 6, 2013

The Virginia General Assembly brought opponents and proponents of fox penning together last February in an attempt to review the practice and work out a mutually acceptable set of rules. David Whitehurst of the Department of Game and Fisheries says that no compromise acceptable to each constituency was reached. The issue is expected to be revived in the 2013 assembly session, and game officials plan to meet at 9:00 a.m. Thursday, October 18 at the state game office, 4000 West Broad Street, Richmond. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Laura Donahue, Virginia director of HSUS, accuses the game department of dragging their feet on the issue and plans to ask for a moratorium on new fox pens. In the same article, Madeline Abbitt, a lobbyist representing the Virginia Foxhound Training Preserve Association is quoted as saying, “What a fox enjoys is a good chase. That has been recorded from back in history.” In my opinion, a better argument might be to try to prove that survival of foxes in the fox pen exceeds the survival rate of foxes in the wild. Click for Rex Springston’s complete article. Posted October 17, 2012

The proposed measure in the Virginia General Assembly to ban fox penning has been shelved for a year. More than an hour of testimony was presented to the Senate Agriculture Committee at a meeting crowded with animal rights advocates and pro-hunting forces. Supporters of the bill argued that the practice is inhumane and often ends in the death of the fox. Hunters maintained that it’s a safe and secure way to train young hounds, and that escape earths are provided to ensure the safety of the fox. Hunters also said that the practice has been wrongfully portrayed. The purpose, they maintain, is to train hounds—not to kill foxes. Senators expressed confusion at the wide variance in how fox pens are portrayed by the opposing sides. Bob Duncan, Director of Virginia’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, who has visited fox pens, said that while the pens aren’t as portrayed by some proponents of the bill, there are probably improvements that could be made in the protocol for the benefit of the foxes, and he was certain that responsible hunters would work with the department to achieve those ends. Action on the bill was continued to 2013. Read Chelyen Davis’s complete article in The Free Lance-Star. Posted February 14, 2012

The News Virginian reports that proposals in the General Assembly would ban fox penning. Some hunt clubs use fox pens to train young hounds to hunt the proper quarry. Other foxhound enthusiasts use the pens to conduct competitive field trials. Identical proposals for banning the practice have been introduced by Senator David W. Marsden, D-Fairfax and Delegate Kenneth R. Plum, D-Fairfax. Supporters of the ban claim that it is a cruel sport that ends with penned foxes being killed by hounds. There are thirty-four state-licensed fox pens currently active in Virginia. Under state licensing rules, pens must be no less than one hundred acres in size with holes into which foxes can hide or escape. Other safeguards for the health and protection of the penned foxes are mandated by the licensing rules. The pens are regulated by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Laura Donahue, Virginia Director of the Humane Society of the United States calls fox penning Virginia’s most shamefully kept secret. HSUS and the Richmond SPCA are among the groups fighting fox penning in Virginia. HSUS says there are about twenty other states in the country that allow fox penning. Florida, where coyote penning was also allowed, banned the practice in 2010. For more details, see Rex Springston’s article. Posted January 24, 2012

Foxhound training pens are used by many hunts around the country as a part of their puppy training program. The pens are also used by individuals who simply enjoy running their hounds. Foxes (or coyotes) are provided with refuges within the pen to allow them to escape hounds when pressed. There are rules that limit the number of hounds that may be in a pen at any one time. Under pressure from animal rights activists and evidence that certain Florida pen owners were breaking state game laws, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shut down all fox pens in February until it could work out new fox pen rules. Two meetings have been held to allow stakeholders to come to a consensus on improved rules. However, of forty-seven proposals considered, only six could be agreed upon by both sides. The Commissioners considered possible new rules but decided they would be unenforceable. They plan to vote this week on whether or not to ban the practice entirely in the state of Florida. (More on Naples News.)August 30, 2010