Cubs around Ireland are suffering bloody barbarity as cruel cubhunting begins again this month. In the run-up to the start of another season of foxhunting, hunters surround earths in the early hours after dawn and flush the resident foxes out into the open. They then goad their hounds into attacking and killing the cubs. The doomed youngsters are mauled, bitten and pulled apart by the dogs.
This merciless brutality is carried out to introduce new hounds to the taste of fox blood and to disperse foxes - parents and siblings of targeted cubs are scattered so that their wider distribution will later provide a wider hunting area.
The hunters like to refer to their shameful barbarity as 'Autumn hunting' but their euphemism doesn't disguise the fact that it's one of Ireland's nastiest acts of cruelty.
To do this to an animal should be illegal in Ireland but our legislators have so far refused to ban foxhunting. They disgracefully voted to ensure that an exemption for the bloodsport remained in the Animal Health and Welfare Act and they rejected a proposed amendment which sought to make foxhunting an offence.
This recreational animal cruelty is totally unacceptable in modern Ireland. Please join us in contacting the government and demanding a long overdue ban on foxhunting.
ACTION ALERT
A RED C opinion poll, commissioned by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports, shows that a 77% majority agree that the Irish Government should ban foxhunting. The poll found that just 12 per cent disagree with a ban on foxhunting. Tell politicians to respect the wishes of the majority and ban foxhunting.
Contact the leaders of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Sinn Fein, Labour Party and the Green Party to tell them that you want fox hunting and all bloodsports banned.
Micheál Martin
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1–618 4350 or +353 (0)21-432 0088
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Leo Varadkar
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: +353 (0)1-704 3630 OR +353 (0)1-640 3133
Email: leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Eamon Ryan
Leader, Green Party
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan
Mary Lou McDonald TD
Leader, Sinn Fein
Tel: (01) 727 7102
Email: marylou.mcdonald@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLouMcDonald
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MaryLouMcDonaldTD
Alan Kelly TD
Leader, Labour Party
Tel: 067 34190
Email: alan.kelly@oir.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alankellytd/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/alankellylabour
Contact the Agriculture Minister and demand that the exemption for foxhunting is removed from the Animal Health and Welfare Act.
Dara Calleary TD
Minister for Agriculture
Department of Agriculture
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Email: dara.calleary@oireachtas.ie
Tel: (096) 776 13 OR (01) 618 3331
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/daracalleary
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/daracalleary
Contact all your local TDs and urge them to push for a ban on foxhunting. Visit the Oireachtas website for names of TDs and their email addresses http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?housetype=0&HouseNum=33&disp=mem
Keep hunters off your land
If you are a landowner, make your land off-limits to hunters. Find out more about how to do this on our Farmers/Landowners Page - http://www.banbloodsports.com/farmers.htm
Witness the cruelty of foxhunting at
http://www.banbloodsports.com/videos.htm