Last week, a YouTube clip was shared on Morrissey’s website, showing footage of a Boxing Day protest against fox hunting. Anti-hunt demonstrators gathered to protest as hunters on horseback, with their pack of hounds, started on their ‘traditional’ Boxing Day hunt from the suburb of Basseleg in Newport, south Wales.
The clip did not carry any commentary, or explanation as to the current situation in the UK regarding fox hunting, so I have decided to provide one myself, since a few of the comments I have seen have indicated a need for this.
Fox hunting involves riders on horseback chasing a fox across the countryside with a pack of hounds that have been bred and trained to kill. When the terrified and exhausted fox is caught, it is ripped apart by the hounds. It has been a traditional ‘sport’, mostly amongst the landed gentry and aristocracy, for some few hundred years, but in 2004 it was banned in England and Wales, because, well, it’s fucking cruel and unnecessary, as were many things people did back in the 16th century that have since been banned. This, I believe, is known as ‘progress’.
Unfortunately for the foxes though, the practice has continued in spite of the Hunting Act, mostly under the guise of ‘trail hunting’. The hunters now claim that they are not really chasing a fox, but that the hounds are following a pre-laid trail of animal based scent, such as fox urine, the riders are following them just for fun, and any resulting deaths are accidental. Anyone who has read any number of detailed reports from the Hunt Saboteurs Association, who regularly attend these so-called ‘trail hunts’, will know that this is simply untrue, and that in fact, illegal fox hunting is continuing to take place, with the police mysteriously remiss when it comes to enforcing the law.
On Wednesday 2nd January the Portman Hunt killed a fox in the Dorset countryside.
Saboteurs present on the day believe this was a previously captured fox released in front of the hounds.
On Saturday 29th December the Crawley and Horsham hunt killed a fox in West Sussex. Its disembowelled body was retrieved by saboteurs.
On Boxing Day (26th December) the Eggesford Hunt killed a fox near Okehampton. The kill was witnessed and filmed by Devon County Hunt Saboteurs.
These are just a few recent examples. And if the killing of a fox doesn’t outrage you, then here are a few variations.
On Boxing Day, a member of East Kent Hunt Sabs was hospitalised after being attacked by hunt supporters in Elham, Kent. Meanwhile, on the same day, a horse died on the North Cotswold hunt.
On Tuesday 18th Dec, hounds from the Meynell and South Staffordshire Hunt attacked a herd of alpacas, resulting in one having to be put down, and leaving another badly injured.
On Monday 10th December, hounds pursuing a fox with the Fitzwilliam Hunt ran into a busy dual carriageway in Cambridgeshire. One hound was hit by a car and killed. Fortunately there were no other casualties resulting from this dangerous incident.
Last March a cat was killed in its owner’s back garden in Norbury, Staffordshire by hounds from the Albrighton and Woodland Hunt. Earlier, in January, hounds from the East Sussex and Romney Marsh hunt rampaged through an animal sanctuary in East Sussex, causing frightened cats to flee, leaving many missing, feared lost or killed.
Again, these are just a few examples. There are many, many more in a similar vein. But you get the general idea.
I like to think that as I have become older I have learnt to try harder to see things from other people’s perspective, to understand their differences and where they are coming from, but I have to say in this instance I’m completely lost. A person who goes out seeking to kill a fox in such a cruel and brutal way, and in the process shows no regard for other animals, or other people’s pets, property, safety, or feelings, is seemingly of a mentality so far removed from my own that any level of understanding seems impossible. Humans are not really very humane.
It is difficult to decide what is more depressing about this sorry state of affairs; the behaviour of the hunters in itself, or the fact that they continue to get away with it. The only positive to clutch at is in remembering that they are in a minority. A poll commissioned by the League Against Cruel Sports in 2017 showed that 85% of the British public are against fox hunting. And I need to cling to something.
But back to Morrissey. Given his long time commitment to the promotion of animal welfare, it is not difficult to guess at his feelings on the matter. In addition to having made statements on the subject in the past, he includes The Hunt Saboteurs Association as one of five causes listed on Morrissey Central, as well as on his latest album, as being worthy of support.
If you would like to support the Hunt Saboteurs Association you can join them or donate to them.
You can also sign the League Against Cruel Sports’ petition to stop the killing of animals by hunts in the UK.
Adventures of a middle-aged Morrissey fan 