"When one of Mr Bailey's pack reaches retirement age, usually about 5 years old, he shoots it and feeds it to the others. This practise, according to a hunt aficionado, is apparently to 'give the hound one last run'. In the stomach of his chums." Jim White on the VWH, Independent, 14 February 1997

"A ban on hunting would mean thousands of hounds would have to be destroyed" is a familar cry from pro-hunt apologists. For example, Arnold Greenhalgh, Joint Master of the hare hunting Holcombe Hunt, warned on the eve on the 2001 Parliamentary debate on hunting that if hunting was banned that he would have no choice but to shoot the hounds who have faithfully served the Holcombe Hunt.

Carole Smith, whose partner Les Hudson is kennel huntsman to the Cumberland Foxhounds, when interviewed by the Guardian 'hung on to Tanner, a big hound with appealing eyes.' "I'm so passionate I would go to prison rather than let Tony Blair shoot him or dispose of him when he turns us all into criminals," she said.

What pro-hunt apologists fail to mention is that hunts shoot thousands of perfectly healthy hounds each year, yes even those that faithfully serve the Holcombe Hunt. In October 1996 the Cheshire Foxhounds were secretly filmed shooting a hound (pictured right) through its head before dumping the body in a bin.

Former huntsman Clifford Pellow has described the fate that befalls hounds that are unsuitable for hunting. He says, “We see plenty of images of young hounds and hound puppies being cuddled. What people don’t realise is that, if those young animals don’t ‘enter’ when they’re introduced to hunting, they will be shot. I should know, I’ve had to do it myself. In my day, out of a pack of forty hounds, I would say that 10 would be shot in a year.”

Another example of hunt hyprocisy was the demonstration in June 2003 when pro-hunt activists descended on London with their hounds, delivering the gruesome message that a total hunt ban is a death warrant for these dogs. Little wonder League Against Cruel Sports chief executive Douglas Batchelor said, "The sheer hypocrisy of today's demonstration is mind boggling. Hunts have an appalling record of dealing with their dogs. Unwanted puppies are disposed of, young dogs that fail to make the grade as hunters are shot and dogs that can no longer keep up with the pack are routinely shot. The hunting industry kills at least 3,000 unwanted dogs each year, typically at half their natural life span."

Obviously hunts don't want the public to know they kill hounds so it is surprising that the League Against Cruel Sports hasn't made more of this issue.

On Boxing Day 1997 the BBC2 series 'Under the Sun' featured the Shropshire-based Ludlow Foxhounds. Whilst most of the programme consisted of a particularly long and boring rendition of the pathetic excuses offered by hunters everywhere for their so-called 'sport', it also included a horrific shooting and dumping of a three-year-old foxhound which the hunt no longer required (pictured left).

The Ludlow's three-year-old hound is taken from the kennels and put in front of its incinerator, it is shot in the head in the same way many thousands of excess hounds are killed all over Britain each year, and then, without even bothering to check that the animal is actually dead, the dog is dumped straight into the incinerator as if just another piece of rubbish.
   

Holcombe Hunt threaten to kill hounds
Cheshire Foxhounds kill hounds
Flint and Denbigh Hunt kill 24 hounds
League Against Cruel Sports hound press release