Horrific cruelty awaits young foxes around Ireland at the start of another season of cub hunting.
In the early hours after dawn, hunters surround earths and flush out the resident foxes. They then release their waiting hounds to attack and kill the cubs. The doomed youngsters will be mauled, bitten and pulled apart.
This merciless brutality is carried out ahead of the upcoming fox hunting season to introduce new hounds to the taste of fox blood. It also serves to disperse foxes – the parents and siblings of targeted cubs are scattered so that their wider distribution will later provide a bigger hunting area.
The hunters refer to their shameful barbarity as ‘Autumn hunting’ but their euphemism does not disguise the fact that it’s one of Ireland’s nastiest acts of animal cruelty.
To do this to an animal should be illegal but our legislators have so far refused to ban fox hunting. 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 fox hunting an offence. Without the exemption in the Act, fox hunters would be liable to prosecution for animal cruelty.
In May, Ruth Coppinger TD introduced her Animal Health & Welfare (Ban On Fox Hunting) Bill which, if supported by a majority of TDs, will finally bring fox hunting to an end in Ireland. The bill will return to Dail Eireann for second stage debate and vote. Ahead of this, it is imperative that politicians are pushed to pledge support for the bill. Please help save foxes from the cruelty of hunting by responding to the action alert below
ACTION ALERT
Help get fox hunting banned in Ireland. Please get in touch with all your local TDs and urge them to support Ruth Coppinger TD’s Animal Health & Welfare (Ban On Fox Hunting) Bill when it returns to Dail Eireann. Visit the Oireachtas website for contact details https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/34
Contact the leaders of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Sinn Fein and the Labour Party. Tell them that you want fox hunting, hare coursing and all bloodsports banned.
Micheál Martin TD
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Tel: 01 619 4000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Simon Harris TD
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01 281 3727
Email: simon.harris@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
X: http://www.twitter.com/SimonHarrisTD
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DeputySimonHarris
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
Ivana Bacik TD
Leader, The Labour Party
Tel: (01) 6183136
Email: ivana.bacik@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ivanabacik
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bacikivana/
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
Watch our campaign video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG9rMlE3VAQ
Please support our campaign with a donation
https://www.paypal.me/banbloodsports
SEE ALSO
Ruth Coppinger's "Ban Fox Hunting" bill progresses despite shameful attempt to block it
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2025/05/29/ruth-coppingers-ban-fox-hunting-bill-progresses-despite-shameful-attempt-to-block-it/
Old excuses for fox hunting won't wash - it's time to outlaw barbaric bloodsport
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2025/05/30/old-excuses-for-fox-hunting-wont-wash-its-time-to-outlaw-barbaric-bloodsport/
Disgust at Sinn Fein’s attempt to block “Ban Fox Hunting” bill
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2025/05/31/disgust-at-sinn-feins-attempt-to-block-ban-fox-hunting-bill/
Máiría Cahill: Rural stance no big surprise, but Sinn Fein vote on fox-hunt ban a sly move
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2025/06/01/mairia-cahill-rural-stance-no-big-surprise-but-sinn-fein-vote-on-fox-hunt-ban-a-sly-move/