FOX hunting was under attack in West Devon again last week with a 1,340-name petition being presented to the local MP.
Mary Tavy resident Pearl Duke handed the petition to John Burnett, MP for Devon West and Torridge, at his weekly surgery in Okehampton on Saturday. The petition is part of a national campaign called 'Deadline 2000', which aims to end hunting by the turn of the century.
Mrs Duke said that for every refusal to sign, 20 people did. 'In this hunting area, this proved once again that most people want to see hunting ended,' she said.
Mrs Duke claimed that even if the fox had gone to ground it would be flushed out by terriers or dug out before being killed by the hounds. She also claimed that the hounds were trained by 'cubbing', where a fox cub was thrown to the pack and that undercover films had been made by the RSPCA exposing these practices.
Mrs Duke said there were more humane methods than hunting for population control such as trapping foxes in cages and shooting them.
'But the fox is not always the rogue he is made out to be,' she said. 'Quite a lot of farmers welcome foxes to control the rabbits on their land, but they don't welcome the hunt — they are increasingly being banned.'
Alan Murton, master of foxhounds at Spooners and West Dartmoor Hunt, denied categorically that they threw fox cubs to train hounds.
'That would be inhumane and strictly against Master of Foxhounds Association rules,' he said.
Mr Murton added that hunting was the only form of fox control that observed a closed season, meaning cubs were never hunted. He also said they only dug foxes out at the request of farmers for pest control reasons.
'If it does take place it is within strict rules to ensure it is humanely done,' he said.
Mrs Duke's petition is to be presented to Parliament with others from around the country.