Controversial Fla. fox pen shut down

SANTA ROSA COUNTY, Fla. - Santa Rosa County residents say they've witnessed animal cruelty right outside their back door. They say fox penning is a huge issue in their neighborhood, that needs to be brought under control.

"It's a practice that should be outlawed. It's illegal dog fighting," Kristin Tank said.

She's talking about fox penning. Tank says after years of controversy, her neighbor voluntarily shut down a fox pen last month.

"We've heard coyotes in the distance," she said. "I don't know where they're located, but everything is a lot quieter around here at this point."

Hunters say the purpose of fox penning is to train their dogs to hunt fox and coyote in the wild.

FOX10 spoke with one hunter just before the fox pen closed.

"You don't want to kill the coyote," he said. "We're here in order to train our dogs to run in other pens for competition."

The fox pen next to Tank's house might be shut down temporarily, but the state of Florida is taking a closer look at this issue altogether.

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission has put fox pen permitting on hold, while it reconsiders the issue.

However, Tank says there's only one humane option.

"I'd like to see the fox penning practice banned throughout the state of Florida. I would like to see it all shut down and I believe we're going in the right direction at this point," she adds.

There are six permitted fox pens in the state of Florida.