Tally No? Nope!

A repost from this blog circa 2005

The Hook, a four-color publication out of Charlottesville, Virginia has written several pieces on fox hunting in the last year and each time has gotten it wrong.

The latest edition featured fox hunting on the cover, under the title of "Tally No!" with the author attempting to compare American foxhunting with it's English cousin which it said had been banned. The article went on to trot out some strange woman who claimed her Scottie had been terrorized by the local pack of foxhounds. To read the original article >> click here

A bit flabergasted I wrote a quick note to the writer (as I have with earlier fox hunting articles in this magazine) noting that fox hunting had not been banned in the UK (regardless of what the media said), and that fox hunting had, in fact, been beneficial to fox populations worlwide. My letter to the author ended up being printed as a letter to the editor. To read that >> click here

The rich part of this story, is that it turns out that the "opponent" of fox hunting featured so prominently in article was a fraud! As the editors of The Hook note, "[I]t turns out that the key local critic of the practice was not who she said she was. A woman who identified herself as 'Kay Hooper' claimed her pet dog was harassed by a pack of dogs (not foxhounds) and blasted some members of the Farmington Hunt as hypocrites for not speaking publicly about their enjoyment of fox hunting. After publication of the story, however, The Hook learned that the critic herself had not truly spoken publicly, as she had used a pseudonym when talking to The Hook. A brief investigation reveals that her name is Jane Morley, and according to Master of Foxhounds for the Farmington Hunt, she is a lapsed member of the club."

Ha!

Opposition not based on knowledge and pricinciple, but invective hurled by a liar seething in resentment about some imagined social slight. About par for the Animal Rights crowd -- and the dress-up set to boot.

The good news is that it was caught by the editors of The Hook.

The bad news is that the lies made it to the cover of the magazine, while the truth was relegated to a footnote. Isn't that always the way?