France has a long tradition of hound packs. Indeed, France is a country where hounds are such a tradition that more breeds of scenthound originate there than any other.
For those of you who aren’t aware of these traditions, the French hound packs are quite similar to those of foxhounds or beagles in the US or the UK. Yes, there are plenty of small-time houndsmen who run a few dogs, but these big packs are connected to mounted hunting.
Throughout France, these packs run deer. They used to run wolves, which are now a protected species.
A few days ago, Elise Pilarski was out walking her dogs in the Forest of Retz, when she encountered a pack of deer hounds*. She phoned her partner that she was afraid the pack might attack her, and not long after, she was found dead. She had been attacked by dogs.
It is not clear if she had been attacked by the hounds or by her own dogs. DNA tests are being conducted on the dogs in the pack and her own dogs. The pack apparently consisted of over 60 dogs, which is in keeping with the tradition of pack hunting.
Pilarski was pregnant, and she may have given off some sign of weakness towards the dogs, which could have elicited the attack response. Her own dogs, at least one of which appears to be a bull-breed of some sort, might have caused problems with the pack as well.
When you have that many dogs in super prey drive and a competing group of dogs that could potentially become amped, there could be issues with predatory drift.
Once that many dogs enter that zone, it can be a dangerous situation.
This death was a tragedy, and we await DNA tests to see exactly what happened.
However, it is clear that new protocols are going to be necessary around pack hunts to ensure public safety.
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*Not to be confused with the Scottish deerhound, which is a sighthound.
Dear Scottie,
First, I need to tell you that I absolutely love your writings!
Pack mentality is, indeed, scary. This piece reminded me of an incident which happened 35 years ago. A neighbor’s mixed pit bull terrier came onto our deck and attacked my beloved Siamese cat. To my horror, my 2 Hungarian Vizslas, who never hurt any of our housecats, joined the attack. They killed my cat!
I “fox hunted” with Red Mountain Hounds in NC for years. Our hounds never killed a fox, while I was a member. I was there just to enjoy a great riding outing twice a week with all the pagentry, not a hunter. But I observed pack behavior and learned how hounds can be sneaky and seriously dangerous. Thanks for this article.