Fox Yards, Fox Cub Rearing and Why We Need To Accept Hard Facts

 Interestingly enough it was not just the hunts who reared foxes but there was quite a little cottage industry in breeding foxes such as the one below -I believe in Wales in the early 1900s.

(c)2023 British Fox Study

On the really dark side of things some towns had houses in which badger baiting took place in back rooms and these attracted quite a crowd (with some betting going on). One poor badger at least had been taken from one house to another and when seen was described as "not looking as though it would last long".  The cruelty was not just down to the hunts but ordinary people who had a taste for blood sports.  

The conditions foxes and cubs -mainly cubs from what I have seen so it is likely the mothers were killed- were raised in were not good but dens were in a coal shed and the damp and dirty yards (known as "fox yards") were not conducive to raise healthy animals. The fox shown above looks like it has mange though it is more likely damp/wet fur . 

Above are two men showing the cubs they are raising. These could be sold to someone as a pet or to a hunt in need of fresh 'sport'. Back in the 19th century hunts complained that foxes they purchased from such people often had mange from the filthy conditions they were kept in. This complaining was not about animal welfare but the fact that they paid good money for foxes that developed mange; treating mange as far as hunts were concerned meant killing every fox in a territory even if it had no sign of mange -after all they could always buy more foxes.  

It has to be remembered that locals turned up to watch the start of a fox hunt when a bagged fox or jackal was released -it was entertainment. What people tend to cover up is that without the ordinary citizen wolves, foxes, wild cats and others would not have been wiped out -they could earn good money killing these animals. Badgers just escaped extinction in some areas while in others, particularly the north of England, they were exterminated.

The truth is something that many want to wash over but it is important to remember because it shows that the extermination of species as well as environment involved everyone not just one mad faction.