BBC News at Six 11Jun15 on 16 fox cubs found in barn in North Yorkshire
Dr Toni Shepherd: League against Cruel Sports
Kevin Hollinrake: Conservative MP for Thirsk & Malton
Police are investigating after footage of 16 fox cubs held in a barn near to hunt kennels emerged.
The video was filmed in a barn near to the Middleton Hunt Kennels in Malton, North Yorkshire, by the League Against Cruel Sports, which alleges that the cubs were being raised to be hunted.
The footage, given to the BBC, showed the dark interior of a barn, located some 200m (660ft) from the hunt kennels.
A number of fox cubs, aged six to eight weeks, were shying away from the light of the camera.
Several were hiding in a milk churn and others were crouching in a drainpipe.
The police said there were 16 cubs from at least four different vixens.
Dr Toni Shephard, from the LACS, said: "This footage shows 16 fox cubs being kept in a barn without any sign of a vixen or parents.
"We believe that they're being kept to ensure that there are plenty of foxes to hunt this coming season when they go out.
"We think that this practice is widespread and this demonstrates that hunting is nothing to do with fox control or wildlife management, but that it's just a cruel sport that people take part in purely for pleasure."
The cubs are now in a sanctuary in Liverpool. They will eventually be released into the wild.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33100242
