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Fox pens are horrifying tools of animal abuse and it is shameful that they continue to be allowed to function in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In Virginia, foxes are trapped in the wild all over our state and thrown into electrified fenced enclosures for dogs to chase them down and frequently maul and kill them. In staged competitions, hundreds of dogs may be judged on how they aggressively pursue the outnumbered, captive foxes, all for a trophy and cash prizes. All the terrified and exhausted fox gets if he or she survives the competition is the chance to live until the next such horrendous occasion. We have urged both the Virginia General Assembly and the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (which licenses, regulates and inspects fox pens) to end this blood “sport,” which is not a tradition in Virginia since it only began in the 1980’s. How can one even think of using the word “sport” when one of the participants is grossly outnumbered and has no means of escape?
Currently, the Board of Directors of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is considering changes to the Virginia fox pen regulations in response to the public outcry over their abuses. View the proposed regulations here. These proposed regulations are weak and unenforceable, and they will most likely do nothing to reduce the number of foxes injured and ripped apart by dogs in pens. In addition, the Board heard a great deal of expert testimony about the fact that the fox pens constitute a great threat to the massive spread of rabies in Virginia. The Department’s own staff recommended including a new regulation to address the rabies issue but the Board itself struck the proposed regulation down. Virginia citizens need to tell the Board that the time is now to rid the state of its last legal blood sport and stop fox penning.
The Board has asked for public comments on these proposed regulations by May 30. Please send a quick note using the link below to The Virginia Board of Game and Inland Fisheries asking them to prohibit fox pens and to protect us from the spread of rabies. The animals need your voice! There will be no positive change for these animals unless the Board hears from you that you want both the animals and the people of Virginia protected. If they do not hear from the people like you who love animals, then they will believe that no one cares about these precious animals and their fate in these fox pens.
Here are some topics that you could comment on in your message to the Board if you wish:
Pens are fenced enclosures where dogs are released to chase down captive foxes, often in competitions. No matter the size of the enclosure, the dogs often catch and kill the foxes. In just five years, Virginia operators reported to have taken more than 6,000 foxes from the wild for this cruel enterprise.
We have it in law that wildlife cannot be possessed, bought and sold, yet these fox pen operators take foxes by the thousand for their private amusement and financial gain.
These pens have zero wildlife management value and are a threat to public and wildlife health. It's shameful our state agency is spending resources attempting to manage this fenced game. There is no question (and the experts have confirmed) that fox pens constitute a Russian roulette for the spread of rabies because foxes are a vector species for rabies and they are being transported by unvaccinated people and being attacked by many unvaccinated dogs.
These pens go against our traditions of fair chase and our morals, and no ethical hunter would have anything to do with them. Nor would any real mounted fox hunter. This activity has nothing to do with the tradition of mounted fox hunting.
Send your comments to the following email address: regcomments@dgif.virginia.gov. You must include full personal identifying information for your comment to be considered. Many thanks from me and from the innocent animals whose lives are at stake.
Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.
The Today show recently aired a news piece that I hope everyone who cares about animals will watch because it exposes the truth about the American Kennel Club and its actual activities, or lack thereof to adequately inspect and responsibly regulate its registered dog breeders.
We have long known that an AKC registration of a dog or puppy provides absolutely no reliable representation of the conditions that the dog was bred in or the physical or emotional health of the pet. But, unfortunately, many members of the public think that an AKC registration is some sort of seal of approval about health of the puppy they buy and the conditions in which that puppy was raised. In fact, one would hope that the AKC would help and support the work that the Humane Society of the United States and the ASPCA have done to address the dreadful conditions in puppy mills but, in truth, they actually have worked to resist standards of care and conditions being placed on breeding operations.
After being rescued from a puppy mill, a dog is evaluated by Richmond SPCA Chief of Education and Training Sarah Babcock.
The Richmond SPCA has worked with the HSUS and the ASPCA to break up heart-breaking puppy mills in Virginia and other states in which innocent animals were being subjected to horrifying conditions all for the financial gain of the heartless people in charge. As a result, we know first-hand the serious need for the imposition of standards for the safety, health and cleanliness of these breeding operations. For that reason, we worked hard a few years ago to urge the members of the Virginia General Assembly to pass a bill that would have placed reasonable requirements on commercial breeding operations in Virginia. That bill was strongly and vocally opposed by the AKC.
The bottom line is that, if you really care about the welfare of the wonderful dogs and cats that share our world, then you should always find your new family member at a shelter. When you adopt a dog or cat from the Richmond SPCA, it allows us to immediately go save another deserving pet from a shelter where his or her life may be at risk. You will not only have a wonderful new best friend but you will also sleep well knowing that you saved a life. That sure beats supporting the sorts of horrifying breeding operations that are documented in the Today segment.
Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.
Today's Washington Post editorial page provides a beautifully written and deeply affecting editorial about the despicable recent efforts of a number of state legislatures to pass "ag-gag" bills to prevent the American public from knowing the truth about the horrifically abusive treatment of animals in factory farming operations.
Six states have enacted these bills already and six more are considering some version of them. There is no suggestion ever made by the proponents of these bills that the undercover videos made in these agribusiness operations demonstrating the stomach churning animal abuse are not truthful. The legislation's purpose is simply to ensure that the public is not permitted to see these abuses for fear that it might drive them to vegetarianism (OMG, we have a lot of rights but the right to be a vegetarian in not one of them apparently!). This is not only a shocking display on the part of elected representatives of callousness to animal suffering but also an appalling disregard of our first amendment rights.
We are deeply grateful for the great and courageous work that the Humane Society of the United States has done to document the awful realities of the cruelties to which animals are subjected in these agribusiness operations and for their laudable successes in achieving change for the better. It is of course those successes that are really behind these efforts to prevent the public from seeing and knowing the truth. As Justice Brandeis said "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants." Please read the editorial and help us to promote sunlight on the conduct in factory farms.
Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.
The only term I can think of to describe what is currently going on in Goochland County is kabuki theater: a bunch of artificial posturing in strange get-ups. You probably have seen the various news reports about the fire at Annette Thompson’s house – reports in which she was termed a “longtime animal rescuer.” Then, more recently, the news reports have been about her having been convicted of neglect in the past and her now being charged again with several counts of animal cruelty relating to the approximately 75 dogs on her property. Now, we are seeing the Goochland County officials on TV claiming that they are, in the famous words of the Casablanca inspector, “shocked, shocked” to discover the conditions the dogs are in. The sheriff said on air, when talking about the dogs that were removed and had to be euthanized this week, that “up to this point” the dogs being kept by Ms. Thompson were “never in this condition.”
Oliver, a beagle who was rescued in 2012 from "The Pet Rescue Foundation" by the Richmond SPCA, was treated extensively for a collapsed trachea before we found him a loving home.
Oh, please. Annette Thompson has been keeping way too many animals for a very long time under the guise of the “Pet Rescue Foundation” (more on the validity of use of the “rescue” word later). Many people have been aware of the situation and have been deeply concerned about the well being of the dogs there for many years. And they have spoken up, time and time again. Folks like Eileen McAfee and Sue Bell and Heidi Meinzer and others including the Richmond SPCA have raised the concern about serious animal hoarding with all of the appropriate officials in Goochland County with persistence for a very long time. All of this has fallen on deaf ears. Until now.
An organization called Homeward Trails from Northern Virginia has worked valiantly to take animals out of the circumstances that they were in at the Pet Rescue Foundation. They have taken a very large number over the years – many hundreds of them. The Richmond SPCA was asked on a number of occasions to take animals from this situation as well. This request has always been a very difficult one for us to respond to because, while we want very much to help the dogs that are there, we also do not want to simply remove dogs only to allow more to be acquired and, in turn, subjected to the same unacceptable conditions. Each of the several times that we have agreed to take dogs from Pet Rescue Foundation, we have done so based on assurances that Ms. Thompson would not acquire more. Each time that has not proved to be true. Many of the animals we have taken from this situation in the past (and this has been as recently as late 2012) have needed, and received from us, extensive veterinary medical care for serious conditions that appear to have existed for a long time.
When the Commonwealth’s Attorney did not become involved in prosecuting Ms. Thompson several years ago, the group of deeply concerned people did so on their own. Despite the lack of assistance by the County, they put on persuasive evidence to the Judge, and Ms. Thompson was convicted in 2010 on six counts of animal neglect. Once that happened, her “rescue” operation could no longer be considered to be a rescue or releasing agency in Virginia and could no longer legally solicit donations as such. Nonetheless, despite the convictions, Goochland County took no action whatsoever to limit or address the number of animals she was still keeping on her property. It appears clear that nothing would have happened now if it were not for the fire and Ms. Thompson’s ensuing pleas for donations that resulted in pressure again from concerned members of the animal welfare community for Goochland to act.
Now, she has been charged criminally again. This time, the Goochland Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office is participating apparently. Goochland is claiming that their animal control agency has conducted an investigation. To say that this action on the part of the county is long overdue would be to wallow in understatement. The Richmond SPCA stands ready, assuming that a court order to remove the dogs is issued as it should be, to save the lives of dogs that need us in this situation and to provide them with the veterinary and other care that they need. What we ask is that we be assured, really assured, that the county will put an end to any more such misery on this site.
Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.
Cats are no longer being used in pediatric training at UVa, and the university has found homes for the three cats formerly used in the program. Angus, pictured, is available for adoption at our own humane center.
There appears to be good news in connection with the effort to gain the agreement of the University of Virginia Medical Center to cease using live cats for the training of medical students in connection with intubation of infants. We have provided our readers with information on this topic in the past in a guest blog post written by Dr. John Pippin with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. We have joined with them and others in urging the UVa Medical Center to cease this outdated practice which is very traumatic and painful to the innocent cats and not necessary since satisfactory simulators exist that can train students without cats being injured and traumatized.
What we know from information provided to us by Greg Mazur, also of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, is that UVa has quietly stopped the practice of using cats for intubation practice and has now adopted the cats that they had for that purpose to good homes. While the university is not expressly acknowledging any change in their policies, which they had vehemently defended in the past, they appear to have, in practice, ceased the inhumane use of the cats.
We are delighted at this change and we congratulate and thank the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine for their focused efforts to stop this unnecessary and inhumane practice. We would welcome UVa’s acknowledgement of an actual change in policy and a recognition that the cats did not need or deserve to be treated this way with other acceptable alternatives being available but we are happy to at least know that these innocent animals are no longer suffering and are in the sort of homes they deserve. Our sincere thanks go to UVa Medical Center for doing the right thing.
Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.
The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) will soon begin a review process of fox penning and we need your help! We will not cease our efforts to see the end of fox penning in Virginia and will continue to advocate for a necessary moratorium on the practice. It is very important that we all keep a watchful eye and that we not back down; the voiceless animals of Virginia are depending on all of us to make a difference.
What can you expect from this process and what can you do to advocate for animal and public welfare in Virginia? Please save these dates to your calendar and stay involved by following our blog for the next steps:
Next Wednesday, March 20 at 1 p.m.
The full DGIF Game Board will meet to discuss their regulation of fox pens. A package of recommendations for review (with consent of board) will be advertised after March 21.
What can you do? Please attend the Game Board meeting to show your support for increased regulations on fox penning. You can invite your friends to join you and share information about this horrible practice through social media and more.
April and May
A series of public hearings will be held by DGIF in four regions of Virginia to get public feedback on any drafted changes to fox pen regulations.
What can you do? Please attend the public hearing nearest to you (more details to come), invite fellow animal lovers and spread the word!
June 13
The Game Board will hear testimony and a review of the public hearings. Afterwards, the Board will vote.
What can you do? Please attend the Board meeting to voice your support for increased regulations. As always, please bring your friends and share the news.
The backstory of the fight against fox penning in Virginia
On February 5, the Senate of the Virginia General Assembly passed Senate Bill 1280, which would have prohibited staged competitions and limited the number of hounds released in fox pens in Virginia. This was a huge success for the wellbeing of both the animals and people of the Commonwealth. Our great thanks go to Bill Patron Senator Marsden and to Senators Ebbin, Miller and McEachin. The following week, however, S.B. 1280 was unfortunately killed in the House Natural Resources Subcommittee. We were very disappointed with this outcome, especially given that abundant evidence and valid arguments in support of this measure had been offered by its proponents, including Ed Clark, president of the Wildlife Center of Virginia.
We know that a moratorium on fox pens is crucial for both the public health and animal welfare of our Commonwealth, and we will continue our advocacy both with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the General Assembly. Therefore, it is important not to lose momentum as this issue may fade from public spotlight. We cannot permit those who take pleasure in releasing dogs on fenced wildlife to have the sole voice on this issue. The facts remain that fox penning is inhumane and dangerous for all involved. As long as the practice is allowed to continue, foxes will be killed, hounds and humans will be put at risk, and the health of the general public and surrounding wildlife will be put at risk for injury, illness and death.
It is up to you to change the fate of foxes in our commonwealth
You made a difference with the Senate and you can continue to do so. Those of you who spoke up for wildlife, hounds and the safety and wellbeing of your fellow citizens by calling your legislators, sharing and posting to social media and more helped this piece of legislation move farther through the General Assembly than similar bills had in the past. Thank you, from the bottoms of our hearts, for your tireless efforts in the face of criticism, opposition and outright attacks from the proponents of fox penning. We must all do our part to not forget that the horrors of fox penning continue in Virginia and see to it that one day, those horrors cease indefinitely.
Because we know firsthand that advocacy demands time, effort, heart and dedication, we would like to leave you with some encouraging words from Seth Godin that have helped keep us going during this process so far:
Yes is an opportunity and yes is an obligation. The closer we get to people who are confronting the resistance on their way to making a ruckus, the more they let us in, the greater our obligation is to focus on the yes.
There will always be a surplus of people eager to criticize, nitpick or recommend caution. Your job, at least right now, is to reinforce the power of the yes.
To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.
The Richmond SPCA is an organization you can trust, but you don't have to take our word for it. The Richmond SPCA has received 4 stars, the highest rating possible, from Charity Navigator, the leading unbiased and objective evaluator of charities in America. Charity Navigator "works to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the Financial Health and Accountability and Transparency of 6,000 of America’s largest charities." You can visit Charity Navigator's website to review our profile, learn more about their methodologies and see their tips on being a savvy donor.
What does this rating mean to you? Our 4-star rating means that you can put your faith in us to use our resources responsibly. The standards of conduct that define who we are and guide everything we do include: excellence in all that we do, integrity by always acting in a manner consistent with our mission and values, uncompromising care for animals, commitment to the authentic principles of the no-kill philosophy, and leadership in the Richmond community and the humane community nationally.
The Richmond SPCA's 4-star rating from Charity Navigator also means that when you support the Richmond SPCA, you are supporting one of the best humane organizations in the United States. According to Charity Navigator's rating chart, a 4-star rating means we are exceptional because we exceed industry standards and outperform most charities in our cause. The Richmond SPCA is a national leader in humane care and education, having developed numerous lifesaving programs and services including those dedicated to adoption, rehabilitation, sterilization and education. We save the lives of about 3,500 homeless animals each year and care for about 350 cats and dogs daily.
Robin Robertson Starr, chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA, explains the challenge of raising the funds necessary to sustain and improve our life-saving efforts: "The reality is that the Richmond SPCA must strive hard to get the funding we need to provide the essential resources to save as many homeless animals as we possibly can." Three quarters of our annual operating costs are funded by what we raise from our community. "That task is not easy," Starr says. "Every day, we see that there are many more animals that need us, (...) but securing the financial support to save all those that need us is daunting."
The orphaned dogs and cats in our care depend on your support. We encourage you to visit our profile on Charity Navigator or our financial information and statistics page to learn about our great financial health, accountability and transparency. We believe that every life is precious and hope you do, too. To join our life-saving efforts, please visit our secure website now. Your generous gift guarantees thousands of deserving, homeless pets in our care a second chance for a happy life in a permanent, loving home and supports the myriad lifesaving programs and services of the Richmond SPCA. We are so thankful for your support and for your love of animals!
Linley Beckner is the coordinator of community relations for the Richmond SPCA. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.
This Tuesday morning Senate Bill 1280 will be heard by the House Natural Resources Subcommittee at 7:30 a.m. in the Capitol building (see below). Whether you’ve got one minute or less than an hour to spend Tuesday morning, you can continue to help us make history for animals. Here’s how:
Commitment – Action:
5 minutes – contact your Delegate right now and ask that he/she support SB1280 to end cruel fox pens in VA.
Call your Delegate and share, “Hi my name is _________; I am a constituent and I want Delegate ________ to vote yes on SB1280 to end cruel staged competitions in fox pens.”
Write or email your Delegate with the same message. Easy email form in the HSUS' action alert.
1 minute – expose the cruelty of fox penning by sharing it with your friends and family.
Less than an hour – attend the House Agriculture Natural Resources Subcommittee meeting on Tuesday (2/12) morning at 7:30am in the Capitol building, House Room 3.
The future of this bill rests in the hands of seven Delegates. If just four Delegates vote against us, the bill will die. Your attendance will have a HUGE impact on whether or not this bill passes on Tuesday morning. Please join us and tell those you know in the Richmond area how important this meeting is – hopefully they can come too!
For the future – should our 2013 legislative efforts end Tuesday morning we will immediately begin advocacy through the regulatory review process with the Dept of Game and Inland Fisheries in March. This state agency has the regulator power to engage in rule-making on fox pens regardless of legislative direction.
We will provide updates as major milestones approach and how to get involved.
Guest blogger Laura Donahue is the Virginia State Director for The Humane Society of the United States. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.
Shortly after the Virginia Senate passed Senate Bill 1280 on Tuesday, February 5 prohibiting staged competitions in fox pens, we posted that news on our Facebook page to let our friends and supporters know that this great step forward for the well being of animals had occurred. Almost immediately, the fox penners began to attempt to highjack our page with their increasingly nasty and aggressive comments. It was a long evening of responding to the few who were reasonably polite, though misleading, and taking down those that were rude and nasty. A few notes I will make related to that effort:
Ad hominem attacks have no place in any rational discussion of a political issue (or any issue, for that matter). These fox penners and other folks who do not support the cause of animal welfare need to stop attacking me personally and stop attacking others who are working to achieve the passage of this bill and other measures to protect animals. When they engage in these sorts of cruel and highly personal attacks, I will promise that we will take it down every time.
Has any of us ever changed his or her mind because someone started yelling at us online? Of course not.
These folks need to stop saying that we are uneducated. It is rude and it serves nothing to pretend that the honestly held opinions of someone else are just the product of their lack of education or their stupidity. I am constantly amazed that none of them ever addresses the profound concerns that fox pens raise about the spread of rabies but I do not say that they are uneducated about these issues. I assume that they know about them and simply have no response to them.
We are truly shocked by their repeated reliance in various forums on the argument that fox pens should continue to exist because otherwise the fox penners will stop feeding and caring for their dogs and will simply desert them in the woods and then they will have to be cared for by humane organizations. Really, their best argument is that we should allow fox pens to continue because otherwise the participants will abuse, neglect and abandon their dogs in violation of state law and ethical principles and that will place an even greater burden on us? Enough said about that.
The fox penners who suggest that they participate in competitions because those competitions raise money for charitable endeavors are perhaps the most disingenuous of all. If their chief aim is to raise donations for non-profit agencies, then there are a host of other activities that don't involve harming wildlife in which they could engage themselves.
The question has been posed by at least one of the penning advocates asking why we are satisfied with this bill since it only prohibits staged competitions and does not abolish or place a moratorium on fox pens entirely. Staged competitions are occasions when hundreds of hounds are released into fox pens at the same time and, therefore, they result in animal fights, abuse and killing in the greatest quantities. They also provide a substantial portion of the revenue of fox pens and we believe that the wildlife of Virginia should belong to and be able to be enjoyed by all of the citizens of Virginia. One of the most outrageous aspects of fox penning is that penners are being allowed to privatize and commercialize the wildlife of Virginia for their personal economic gain. There is no question that we would prefer to see fox pens be banned or at least a moratorium be instituted on the further issuance of licenses for them. But at this moment, the accomplishment of this step appears to be possible and it is a meaningful improvement for the animals and the people of our state.
The folks would be well reminded of Godwin’s Law. Anytime you use an analogy to Hitler, as Kirby Burch has done before the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to describe those opposed to fox penning, or the Nazis or the Holocaust, you have lost the argument.
It is crucially important that every one of us who is horrified by the cruelties of fox penning, offended that penners are taking animals out of the wild for their private financial gain and worried about the enormous rabies threat that fox penning poses to people and animals, calls his or her Delegate as well as every member of the House Agriculture Committee and urge them to support and vote in favor of Senate Bill 1280.
Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.
Today’s guest blog is written by Edward Clark, president and co-founder of the Wildlife Center of Virginia.
Ed Clark, courtesy of Will Kerner and the Wildlife Center of Virginia
While I am a lifelong hunter who believes in fair chase, and a member of a mounted foxhunting club, I am not here to discuss the ethical shortcomings of fox pens, or the effect that the capture and commercial privatization of nearly 1,000 foxes from across Va. has on my favorite pastime each year. I support SB1280 because, as currently operated, these so-called foxhound training facilities in Va. present an unreasonable and intolerable threat to wildlife health and human health across the state.
What are foxhound training facilities or fox pens?
These so-called training facilities, or fox pens, as they are more commonly known, are parcels of land ranging from 34.5 to 840 acres in size. Foxes are live-trapped from the wild, across the state, transported to the pens, and stocked into these enclosures at densities determined by the owners. The pens are entirely fenced to create an escape-proof enclosure into which foxes are released, ostensibly for the purposes of training foxhounds to follow the scent of foxes and pursue this quarry. For a fee paid to the fox pen operator, hounds are allowed inside the facility to pursue these foxes.
Courtesy of the Wildlife Center of Virginia
According to the Va. Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF), most fox pens are relatively small, family-run operations, averaging 200 acres in size. About half of these operations only allow small groups of hounds into the pen exclusively for training. However, the other half hosts large competitions and field trials, which can involve hundreds of dogs on a single day. For a few of the largest operations, such competitions seem to be their primary business. These are the largest consumers of foxes. Owners and advocates of these facilities contend that such enclosures provide a safe area for the training and schooling of hound, and that foxes are seldom harmed by this confinement and pursuit. The fact that approximately 4,000 foxes have been introduced into the 37 existing facilities in the last few years seems to contradict such statements. Once the foxes are stocked into these facilities, they are never intended to come out alive.
These facilities ignore rules and put lives at risk
Here in Va., the DGIF, in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Division of Wildlife Services and the Va. Department of Health, has made wildlife disease control, especially the control of zoonotic diseases like rabies, a very high priority. Foxes are 1 of 5 species that have been identified as high-risk rabies vector species. Strict regulations have been enacted, including absolute prohibitions on relocation of these high risk species by nuisance wildlife trappers. There are also very tight restrictions on where these species can be released by wildlife rehabilitators, practitioners who are specifically trained to deal with sick and injured wildlife. The Va. Department of Health considers any human exposure to a rabies vector species to be a potentially life-threatening situation.
All wildlife rehabilitators who care for even 1 fox or other high-risk animal must be receive pre-exposure rabies vaccines and provide proof of regular proof of current immunity in order to get their permits renewed. No one, other than vaccinated personnel, is allowed to see, let alone handle foxes undergoing rehabilitation. In the event that the rehabilitator or any member of the public is bitten by one of these animals, or even someone’s dog is bitten, the fox is immediately euthanized and submitted for rabies testing. If the fox is not available for testing, the exposed person receives post-exposer vaccinations just to be safe. A dog that is bitten by a fox must be quarantined if the fox cannot be tested. If 1 fox in a cage full of the foxes is determined to have rabies, all must be euthanized on the assumption that the disease has spread.
A young girl with feed scoop in hand
There is simply no tolerance for ignoring rules that have been put in place to protect the lives of people and free-ranging wildlife. No shortcuts can be taken with high risk species, or the risk of transplanting a disease like rabies, except where foxhound training preserves are concerned.
This one activity flies in the face of every rule, every regulation, and all of the safety procedures that are in effect for protection of both humans and wildlife, in every other field of endeavor that involves high-risk species like foxes. How this has gone on so long simply defies the imagination.
In fox pens, there is no requirement to control disease or minimize the risks to humans, hounds or wildlife
Unvaccinated trappers live trap foxes from anywhere in Va. for relocation across the state. Trappers hold these foxes in captivity for up to a week with no regulation on where they can be held or who can have access to animals. There is no requirement for what minimal cage sizes must be. There is no requirement to report bites to themselves or other people during this period. Then, money changes hands, and the foxes are transferred (not sold) to the pen operators.
A once wild fox confined by a fence
When pen operators receive new foxes, this dangerous and risky behavior moves to a new level of absurdity. Foxes from all parts of Va. are received and handled by another unvaccinated individual. Then, if the foxes are lucky, they are put into acclimation enclosures, where they mix and mingle with foxes from other parts of the state. There is no regard for the potential transmission of a deadly disease.
There is no quarantine procedure in place to assure that new foxes are not introducing an infectious disease or parasites to every other fox in the pen. There is no veterinary involvement whatsoever. It is an epidemiological crap shoot—viral Russian roulette. Once new foxes are introduced to the main enclosure, it must be assumed that every other fox in the pen will be exposed to any disease present.
And yet, there is no requirement for even minimal steps to control disease or minimize the risks to humans, hounds or wildlife. This situation is simply absurd.
Either the safety concerns reflected in law and regulation in every other aspect of dealing with rabies vector species are meaningless, or the activities surrounding foxhound training facilities are simply out of control.
Supporters won’t tell you they’re breaking the law
Supporters of this industry will likely tell you that their trade association has published a “best management practices” document which recommends the use of drugs like Ivermectin to control internal parasites and mange in the foxes. Others will tell you that they even vaccinate foxes in their enclosures for rabies.
Fox pen boundary
What they will not tell you is that, according to the Va. Code of Administrative Law, it is absolutely illegal for pen operators to give any medication to any fox unless the operator happens to be licensed by the Board of Veterinary Medicine as a veterinarian or veterinary technician. They are also unlikely to point out that there is no rabies vaccination approved for use in foxes. So, in addition to being illegal, it is also meaningless. Because of a previously unnoticed conflict in the state code of Va., DGIF currently does not even have the authority to authorize pen operators to administer medications of any kind to foxes in their enclosure, regardless of how beneficial it might be to all concerned. Until this legal conflict is resolved by the General Assembly, DGIF does not have the authority to fully address all of these very serious issues that threaten the health of foxes, other wildlife, hounds, and humans alike.
There must be a moratorium on new facilities, live trapping and stocking new foxes
Please click here to see the Wildlife Center of Virginia's policy considerations and recommendations related to fox pens.
Until all of these issues can be addressed with full input and review by not only the DGIF, but the Va. Department of Health, the United States Department of Agriculture and all agencies with some jurisdiction over the issues created by foxhound training preserves, there must be a moratorium on new facilities and a moratorium on the live trapping of foxes as well as the stocking of new foxes into existing enclosures. To do less would suggest that the financial interest of these 37 operations is more important than the health and safety of the public, the hounds and hounds men who visit the facilities, and indeed the trappers and operators themselves.
Editor's note: Mr. Clark testified before the Va. Senate Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources in support of SB1280 on Thursday, Jan. 31, calling upon the Va. General Assembly and the Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries to, at the minimum, enact an immediate and indefinite moratorium on the issuance of new permits for foxhound training facilities, and an immediate and indefinite moratorium on the restocking of existing facilities until a complete regulatory review and rulemaking can be conducted.
Edward Clark is the president of the Wildlife Center of Virginia. The Wildlife Center is one of the world’s leading teaching and research hospitals for wildlife and conservation medicine and cares for nearly 3,000 wild animals each year. The organization is recognized as an international leader in the field of wildlife disease surveillance and research. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.
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