Royal Agriculture University students parade dead fox on top of car sparking outrage

Students at a prestigous university have been criticised by staff and animal welfare protesters after parading the corpse of a dead fox on top of a car.

The dead fox was stretched out and tied to the roof of a blue car as part of a drive-by for a charity RAG Rally opening ceremony at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester on Monday.

A photo was taken during the rodeo themed event and posted on social media under the caption: “Does it get any more Ciren”.

Students at the prestigious university, dubbed “Oxbridge for farmers”, were also accused by local animal groups of throwing dead hares at passing cars.

A spokeswoman from Three Counties SABS, who sabotage fox hunts in the area, called the stunt “grotesque”.

She said: “Regardless of someone’s view on foxes, even if they believe culling them is a ‘necessary evil’ it is a disrespectful thing to do to parade a body around for some kind of amusement.

“The caption implies that this is what Cirencester is like, that this is Cirencester’s proud identity, when many people in the area are anti-hunt, and even those who aren’t would be largely disgusted by this behaviour.”

She added: “The university could also do better in terms of generally dealing with attitudes towards wildlife, particularly as the RAC Beagles are believed to still be illegally hunting hares, our sabs having attended meets themselves and witnessed behaviours which indicate this.”

A Cirencester Illegal Hunt Watch spokesperson added: “To show such disrespect for a British wild mammal is disturbing especially as some of these students are attending a university where they are training to work alongside wildlife and become custodians of our countryside.

“It’s not the first time that incidents of animal abuse by students at RAU have been exposed. Previously, they have been caught throwing dead hares at cars.”

“This incident should be treated as a wildlife crime and those involved should be brought to justice by the Gloucestershire Rural Wildlife Crime Officers and the RAU.

Social media erupted in disgust with one person on Twitter, saying: “Stuck up Hooray Henrys think it’s funny to strap a beautiful dead fox on the roof of a car. I hope PETA have names.”

There is no evidence that the pranksters have commited a crime but the university said it was working with police and the Students’ Union to identify the students involved.

A Royal Agricultural University spokeswoman said: “We condemn this behaviour.

“As soon as we were made aware of this incident, the details were passed to our Student Services team and an investigation was started immediately.

“We have spoken to the Police and to our Students’ Union to identify those involved.

“We will absolutely not tolerate this kind of behaviour and will deal with those involved appropriately.”

A Gloucestershire Police spokesman said that officers were aware of the incident on the day and have been in contact with the Royal Agricultural University.

He added: “Officers were present at the rally and spoke to students at the time with words of advice.

“No criminal offences are believed to have taken place at this time.”