FOOTBALLER AND ACTOR Vinnie Jones faced scrutiny after posting a graphic image of foxes that he had apparently shot dead on his Twitter account.
The photo, which depicts one hundred dead foxes lined up in a row, was deleted shortly after it was posted. Warning: the graphic image is below.
He captioned it “A real night lamping #foxes anyone beat this?”
The League Against Cruel Sports expressed their horror at the tweet claiming “The joy expressed here highlights the true nature of this activity, which is killing wildlife for fun and has nothing to do with fox control.”
Their CEO, Philippa King, went on to say “Although the activity may be legal, there is no doubt it is unethical and likely totally unjustified – as fox populations are self-regulating.”
According to The Telegraph, animal rights campaigners described it as “nothing less than a massacre”.
Jones took to Twitter to insist that his account had been hacked, despite previously being vocal about his avid interest in hunting.
Despite tweeting “i DONOT condone it in anyway” (sic), Indepedent.co.uk noted that the Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels star had previously posted photos of his ‘kills’ on his Twitter account.
While speaking to Shooting UK on the 12th of July, Jones said:
I love pigeon shooting – building the hide, putting the decoys out. [...] Lamping is probably my favourite. I’ve spent a lot of money on customising my Land Rover for lamping. If the farmer has a fox problem, I love going out and dealing with it for him.
Lamping is a method of hunting nocturnal animals by using high-powered lights to reveal the eyeshine of animals. Animals often continually stare into the light and do not see it as the same kind of threat that they see humans as.
Once an animal is located in the light, it’s either shot or has dogs released on it to kill it.
Although he has a clear interest in lamping, Jones maintained that he was not responsible for the slaughter depicted in the photographs.
He had previously posed with more than a dozen rabbits that he had killed within two hours and posted the photograph to Twitter.
Twitter users appear to be sceptical about whether or not the actor’s account had been hacked.
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