A golf club in north London has sparked outrage after admitting to an ‘unauthorised’ shooting of foxes on its course.
Angry residents have branded Enfield Golf Club ‘horrific’, ‘inhumane’ and ‘cruel’ after learning that a fox cull took place across the 38-hectare course on Wednesday night.
Gunshots were heard by multiple people living near the course, which is located one mile west of Enfield town centre, but after contacting police, one resident was told that the authorities had been ‘legally informed’ about the shooting and that it could last until 2am on Thursday morning.
Enfield Golf Club, which describes itself as ‘the friendliest golf course in North London’ on its Instagram account, has issued an apology but claims that ‘internal management’ brought in ‘an external group to conduct an unauthorised culling’ on its 18-hole course, without approval from the club’s committee.
At this time of year in early spring, the majority of fox cubs are born and are dependent on the vixens to provide milk for at least the first six weeks. A cull of adult foxes in March would mean that any surviving cubs in the family will die of starvation within days.
In England, foxes are not protected for conservation purposes and while fox hunting is banned, they can be shot or caught in a trap and killed ‘humanely’ under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Moonstone Rescue, an animal welfare service based in London and Hertfordshire, has accused Enfield Golf Club of ignoring multiple offers to help any stranded fox cubs left remaining on the course following Wednesday’s cull.
Matt Stone, one of the founders of Moonstone Rescue, told Metro: ‘We were made aware of this very early on Thursday morning. Two offers to assist the fox cubs, one on Thursday and another on Friday, were made but have been ignored by the golf club.
‘Sadly, the results of delayed help will mean further deaths.’
Ali Quantrill, a resident who lives close to the course and heard the gunshots on Wednesday evening, claims she received abuse from Enfield Golf Club management after contacting them to ask about the incident and was told the club had received complaints from members about foxes biting their golf bags.
‘Everyone’s in uproar about it and the way the club have reacted,’ Ms Quantrill told Metro.
‘When the general manager called me back he was so aggressive, he asked why I rang the club and accused them of this.
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‘He said, ‘what’s this got to do with you?’. He said, ‘you stupid woman, how dare you ring me about this’.
‘He went on, ‘we were very aware of what was going on, I have to protect my members, I’ve had complaints that bags have been bitten by foxes’.’
Also speaking to Metro, Feryal Clark, the Labour MP for Enfield North, slammed Enfield Golf Club’s ‘unacceptable’ and ‘incredibly cruel’ conduct.
‘I am deeply disturbed and appalled by the idea of fox culling on a golf course in my constituency,’ Clark said.
‘It is not only an awful act but, frankly, incredibly cruel.
‘Foxes are a protected species in the UK, and it is unacceptable for anyone to think that killing them on our doorstep is in any way justifiable.
‘Golf clubs cannot and should not be involved in culling foxes. We must ensure that our wildlife is protected and I will be following this up with the golf club.’
In a statement, Enfield Golf Club described its decision to cull foxes on the course as ‘incredibly poor’.
‘Enfield Golf Club unreservedly apologises to Enfield residents following a recent incident on the course concerning foxes,’ the statement read.
‘We can assure the community that this was an incredibly poor decision by internal management to allow an external group to conduct an unauthorised culling. This was not sanctioned by the Club Committee.
‘The Club and its members are extremely disappointed that this happened and can guarantee it will never happen again.
‘We are a club that supports the local community and provides an excellent place for all, we are saddened by these events and regret any distress this has caused in our local community.’
Enfield Golf Club finally permitted animal rescue responders on the course to carry out a search on Saturday afternoon.
However, no fox cubs were found in the 15 dens that were searched, while some had been signposted with white spray paint which volunteers discovered after their arrival at the course.
‘Finding nothing is not good and the reason I say finding nothing is not good because what was found was things like spray-painted arrows directing people to dens,’ Mr Stone said.
‘They’d marked it either to come back or go there initially to say, ‘yes, there are cubs here, there are foxes here’.
‘All of the dens that have been checked are empty, or at least to what we can find, are empty, which would suggest that not only adults were killed, cubs were killed.
‘What we can find is there is no bodies in these dens. If there’s no bodies in these dens, something has removed them. You can’t tell me all the corpses that were shot would be scattered about.
‘The fact is they’ve admitted to shooting foxes and there are no bodies there.
‘On some of the dens there was clear signs of disturbance and on some of the footpaths leading to the dens there was clear signs that people had been walking there, which would strongly suggest someone has interfered with the dens.
‘I know a handful of dens that were found were incredibly deep, nothing was moving in them, there was no sounds coming from them. In the shallower dens, hands were put in and nothing was found.’
In response to the backlash, Enfield Golf Club has taken its Facebook page offline and has switched its Instagram account to private.
Enfield Golf Club has been contacted by Metro for further comment but has not responded.
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