“Just because foxhunting is legal doesn't mean it is right...we keep the faith that the tables will turn, so one day the little fox will be recognised and protected as our feral friend”. Thank you to columnist Fiona O’Connell and the Sunday Independent for highlighting the plight of Ireland’s persecuted foxes...
From priests and pariahs to little foxes and vermin
Lay of the Land by Fiona O'Connell
Sunday Independent, August 30 2020
Another hunting season is hot on our heels, alas all too literally for the little fox that is conveniently vilified as vermin to justify its persecution. But though our legislators continue to condone this blood sport, it's as well to remember that just because something is legal doesn't mean it is right.
After all, not only were dog fighting, badger baiting and otter hunting once considered acceptable, we also set hounds on other humans. For if Catholic priests are perceived today as abusers of power, the reverse was the case during the penal era (from 1695 to approximately 1829) when they were persecuted. While history provides ample evidence that the majority led humble lives, regularly risking them in service to the oppressed.
Laws restricting Catholic rights were strengthened for the second time on this day in 1709, followed exactly one year later by the decree that all priests renounce the claims of the Stuarts to the thrones of England and Ireland - with only 33 out of 1,089 priests complying.
Indeed, many older priests had already defied the penal laws that ordered them to leave the country. Instead, they went undercover, wearing lay clothes and taking up employment as farm labourers, where they ministered in secret to their flock. Some hid in priest holes concealed in big houses and large farms built in earlier times, when warfare between clans or invaders was common. But they offered limited protection in an era when spying was rampant and rural Ireland rife with priest hunters.
The memory lodged in the Irish psyche. My father, who grew up in the midlands, often recited a ballad about a good priest who was lured to his death by a priest hunter pretending to seek confession. Such cynical exploitation of their vocation was common - with priests called out to help a sick or dying person, only to meet a savage end.
The majority of murderers were criminals facing the death sentence who took advantage of a pardon offered under English rule in exchange for persecuting priests. Add the motivation of money, not to mention the attraction for sadists, and little wonder if some were happy to hunt them to the death.
Certainly you hit the jackpot with an archbishop, raking in £100. And a £50 bounty for a bishop was also serious loot, while even a mere £20 for a priest was nothing to sneeze at.
Priest hunters were despised outcasts from their community, with locals often exacting revenge despite the risks, while some priests were not afraid to fight back. But political change brought Catholic Emancipation, so that by 1827 many priest hunters were out of work and fled overseas.
Leaving us with today's bitter irony that sees some priests blessing blood sports and even partaking in them. But nevertheless we keep the faith that the tables will turn, so one day the little fox will be recognised and protected as our feral friend.
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 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