An anti-hunting organisation has claimed to have captured on film incidents akin to the controversial ‘canned’ hunting of big game in Warwickshire.
The League Against Cruel Sports claim foxes are being allowed to live in artificial habitats to make their capture in a hunt easier.
The group made their claims after ten weeks of secretly filming one of the region’s most recognised fox hunts led by Croome and West Warwickshire Foxhounds.
Members of the pro-hunt lobby even tipped off the LACS about the practices which they had concerns over. But the hunt have hit back with claims that no rules were broken and that it "all smacks of desperation on behalf of the anti-hunt lobby".
Chief executive of the LACS Douglas Batchelor said: “What we uncovered was really quite shocking. It was a series of specially constructed earths for foxes in pieces of woodland where they’ve provided food in some cases, water in some cases and certainly a free home for the fox.
|  | A view of a hunt in progress |
“Putting in the terrier mount to flush the foxes out so the fox could be hunted and then as the fox ran round in a circle or went back to another artificial earth they trapped it there and killed it.
“And they simply went from one artificial fox home to the next in the course of a day’s hunting. This had nothing to do with pest control and everything to do with making sure there was an adequate supply of foxes for them to chase around.”
LACS secretly filmed the hunt over a ten week period and didn’t want to give away any of the secrets. Although not illegal, they believe what they found breaks the hunting code.
Batchelor added: “Nothing that we filmed is currently illegal – that’s the difficulty with hunting. If this had been a badger it would have been illegal and people would have been committing a crime. As the law stands none of this is illegal.
“They may have broken their own code of conduct because they talk about hunting the fox in its wild and natural state and frankly if you’re running a large scale fox conservation project I don’t think you’re hunting a fox in its wild and natural state.”
So if it isn’t illegal, what case does the Croome and West Warwickshire Foxhounds have to answer? Is it proof that hunting is a blood sport and not just pest control?
The group’s community liaison officer Nicky Driver believes the hunt has no cause to be ashamed.
|  | A huntsman on his horse |
Miss Driver said: "There were absolutely no rules broken in that video. Just because the fox is in an artificial earth does not mean it isn't in its natural habitat.
"We are not just in the business of pest control - it is also about population management.
"Some farmers are happy to have foxes on their land but they want to keep them away from lambing fields, for example. Nobody wants to exterminate the fox - they just want to keep them under control."
Asked if she felt people would be shocked by the video Miss Driver added: "They may be shocked. I think people are, unfortunately, too far removed from the countryside these days."
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