Respite ends for the wily fox

Dear Editor, During the months of lockdown some animals dared to venture out a little more than usual, and there was a corresponding increase in awareness of nature’s manifold wonders as families took to walks in the countryside, rediscovering flora and fauna long ignored or forgotten about, in the mad rush of 21st century life.

Foxes were among the creatures to engage our attention as they turned up in towns and villages in broad daylight. A few were even spotted in Dublin’s Grafton Street and outside the Dail.

Alas, this respite for an madra rua has ended in a national cacophony of snarling and biting as the hounds were once again unleashed. Hunts are out in force, harassing these wild dogs of the countryside for fun as winter approaches.

Between now and the middle of March foxes will be chased until their lungs give out and exhaustion delivers them to the dogs to be eviscerated. Pillars of society will holler with glee and blow their hunting horns as animals, that drew sighs of joy and admiration a few weeks ago, have the skin ripped from their bones.

The fox is cute, they say, but not clever enough to elude devious and calculated human predation. If he escapes underground he can be unearthed with the aid of spades and terriers and tossed to the pack. And the sportspeople will sip from their stirrup cups or flasks as the bloodied brush (tail) is hacked off as a trophy.

Fox hunting is a blot on the landscape, even if the hunters are masked and socially distanced in accordance with Covid19 rules.

Bucolic depictions of it are fine in old paintings or on table mats, but the real thing, a relic of medieval barbarism, belongs in permanent lockdown.

Thanking you, John Fitzgerald, Lower Coyne Street, Callan, Co. Kilkenny.