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Shame on these businesses who were listed as donors to a Westmeath Foxhunt fundraising auction earlier this month.
Glanbia - 14ft gate from Glanbia Mullingar
Bloomfield House Hotel - 6 months gym membership
Bloomfield House Hotel - Dinner for 2 in Bloomfield House Hotel restaurant
Fagan Office Supplies Mullingar - Coffee machine
Newbrook Tyres Mullingar - €50 voucher for Newbrook Tyres
Daniel Murray Veterinary - 6 horse wormers
MacGaghann's Restaurant Cavan - Dinner for 2
Brosna Paints - 15 litres white stable paint
Irish National Stud - Racehorse experience at Irish National Stud and tour of Japanese Gardens
Drummonds Ltd Mullingar - €50 voucher
Paddy Coyne Vet Farm Supplies - 5 litres of cod liver oil
Steelite Specials Ltd - Whiskey and glasses
C&H Wines - 6 bottles of wine
Joe Murray Sales Ltd - €100 service voucher
Also donating to the auction were hunts around the country - lots included “one day’s hunting for two people” with County Clare Hunt, Waterford Foxhounds, Meath Hunt, South Tyrone Hunt and Stonehall Harriers Hunt.
“A morning at Gordon Elliott’s” was donated by disgraced horse trainer Gordon Elliott who was banned for six months in 2021 after a photo surfaced showing him sitting on top of a dead horse in County Meath and smiling at the camera.
Navan Racecourse was also a donor (admission for 4 people and lunch at Navan Racecourse) along with the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (tickets for 2 to Galway Plate day [at Galway Racecourse]).
The fundraising auction was shamefully hosted by Bloomfield House Hotel. The hotel has hosted previous Westmeath Hunt balls, hunt AGM/EGM meetings, a January 2020 hunt auction and a Westmeath Foxhounds Cheltenham Preview event.
Details of a February 2023 hunt ball at the hotel were recently published on the Westmeath Foxhounds Facebook page, confirming the venue as the Bloomfield House Hotel.
No business should associate with foxhunters – not only due to the animal cruelty involved in foxhunting but also the fact that the vast majority of citizens are in favour of a ban on the bloodsport.
A RED C opinion poll commissioned by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports found that a 77 per cent majority want foxhunting banned (with just 12 per cent disagreeing with a ban).
ACTION ALERT
Boycott businesses which support fox hunting.
Urge Bloomfield House Hotel to stop hosting Westmeath Foxhunt events.
Bloomfield House Hotel,
Belvedere, Mullingar,
Co. Westmeath
Tel: +353 (0)44 934 0894
Email: info@bloomfieldhouse.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bloomfieldhousehotel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BloomfieldHotel
Westmeath Foxhunt and Animal Cruelty
A 2011 Farmers’ Journal report told of how 16 mounted followers of the Westmeath hunt, along with 29 hounds, found a fox that was caught and “chopped.” Later on, another fox was “overhauled before he managed to put any distance between himself and them.” Both “chopped” and “overhauled,” in hunting terminology, mean that the fox was caught by the hounds and brutally killed.
Disturbing video filmed during a Westmeath Foxhunt in February 2015. The video shows a hunter calling his horse a C***, a hunter whipping her horse fives times and a horse falling backwards into a ditch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKk8midpn5Y
A report in the Irish Field (8 February 2019) detailed how several foxes were terrorised during a Westmeath Foxhounds hunt. The pack of hounds first found two foxes in a field of kale before “settling on one” and pursuing him. Another fox was chased and “marked” in a bog “after a nice crisp run of over 40 minutes”. In hunting terminology, “marked” refers to the pack of hounds catching up with the fox and baying loudly at the entrance to an earth or drain where the cowering creature is trying to find refuge. Surrounded by the hunters and hounds, this is a desperate situation for the fox. It often means death – foxes are flushed out with terriers or dug out by hunt terriermen before being killed.
In 2007, the Irish Independent reported that there was a probe into allegations that a rope was tied to the leg of a fox and that it was pulled out of a burrow and fed alive to hounds. See Irish Independent report https://www.independent.ie/…/top-hunt-probed-in-cruelty…
A 2008 Irish Field report revealed that the Westmeath Hunt’s hounds chased a fox into the freezing water of the Royal Canal: “The fox and the pack swam across the canal and continued along the banks to the Mullingar/Ballynacargy Road…the fox, with 9 hounds in pursuit, then swam the canal again”
A Westmeath Foxhounds hunt report in the The Irish Field documented the cruel practice of digging-out and the obscene ritual of cutting off the tails and tongues of foxes…”Terriers were some time in coming as followers were the wrong side of the wind for hearing. A quick dig followed and 2 foxes were dispatched. Eamon had a brush for Clarissa and a fox’s tongue which he intends pickling in vinegar to cure warts and draw thorns.”
“Plenty of foxes about who didn’t want to run but hounds did their best on a pre-hunt ball day. Great night last night in the Bloomfield Hotel and plenty of sore heads this morning!” Caption on a Westmeath Foxhunt photo shared on the hunt’s Facebook page, February 2015.