Proposals in the General Assembly would ban fox penning, a little-known practice in which wild foxes are trapped, placed in fenced, wooded areas and chased by hounds.
Supporters say it's a good way to train dogs without their getting on roads and others' land. Opponents say it's a cruel sport that too often ends with the dogs tearing the foxes apart.
In Virginia, nearly 4,000 foxes were put in about 40 pens over the past three years. Pen owners say they need to keep adding foxes because so many die naturally, escape or learn to hide.
"They say the foxes are dying of old age and disease," said Sen. David W. Marsden, D-Fairfax. "Spare me, please. They are getting chewed up by dogs."
Identical bills by Marsden and Del. Kenneth R. Plum, D-Fairfax, would make fox penning a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.
Davy Hackett of Appomattox County said pens — also called preserves — are wholesome places where families can hear hounds bay and watch the sly foxes evade them. He said any legislator is welcome to see his 302-acre operation.
"We love our foxes. These foxes are just like part of our family," Hackett said. "We've got these foxes put in an environment where they do not have to care about food or water. If they have an injury, they are nursed to health. There is less stress on that fox in the preserve than on the outside."
The sport is also called foxhound training. Foxes enjoy the chase, Hackett said.
Under state rules, pens must encompass at least 100 acres, with holes for foxes to hide in. Penned foxes are chased by dozens and sometimes hundreds of hounds.
"I've been calling this issue Virginia's most shamefully kept secret," said Laura Donahue, Virginia director for the Humane Society of the United States, an animal-rights group. "It continues because the vast majority of Virginians have no idea it's going on."
There are now 34 active state-licensed pens, mostly in Southside and southeastern Virginia. About 20 other states condone penning, according to the Humane Society. The society is one of several groups, including the Richmond SPCA, fighting the practice in Virginia.
Florida, which also allowed coyotes in its pens, banned penning in 2010.
Penning became popular in Virginia in the 1980s as a way to train foxhounds, state officials say. Pen owners typically charge people to run their dogs, and some pens hold foxhound competitions.
The state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries began regulating the pens in 1997.
Steve Colvin of Barboursville, president of the Virginia Trappers Association, sees the attack on fox penning as an attack on rural traditions such as hunting and trapping.
"I don't think (penning) is cruel, and I think if it was classified as cruel, you'd have to go after every dog hunter in Virginia out there chasing a rabbit or out there chasing a deer or anything. … If I thought it was a slaughterhouse, I would be personally against it."
Marsden and Plum said they do not oppose traditional hunting. Their bills are in committee.
Virginia had 37 to 40 pens the past three years. Over that period, owners added 3,969 foxes to their pens, state records show.
Pens range in size from the 104-acre Needstan Creek pen in Hanover County to the 950-acre Poole's Foxhound Training Preserve in Greensville County.
The Virginia bills are written to outlaw the penning of coyotes, too, but that's already illegal in Virginia, state officials say.
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