Urban fox hunt video was hoax aimed at the media, say film-makers

[Newsjock]

Source: The Guardian

It was the internet video that sparked a media outcry: grainy footage that seemed to show four masked men drugging a fox and later beating it to death with cricket bats in a London park that was posted on YouTube and Facebook earlier this week.

But the Guardian can reveal that the new sport of "urban fox hunting" was an elaborate hoax. The film-makers, Chris Atkins and Johnny Howorth, said no real foxes were harmed in the film, which was intended as a satirical swipe at what they believe is media hysteria over the danger of urban foxes.

... The BBC was also duped, sending a television reporter to Victoria Park, in Hackney, to produce a package from the supposed scene of the crime. Amid a growing furore, the animal welfare group League Against Cruel Sports launched a campaign against urban foxhunting, while the RSPCA said it was investigating the footage.

... In fact, the dead animal shown in the footage was played by a stuffed fox, the film-makers told the Guardian, while shots of what looked like a live fox were images of a pet dog, Monty, with a bushy tail taped to its hind.

The pair said they made their film "deliberately Pythonesque" in a bid to lampoon the media hysteria over urban foxes, and were surprised when the video was so widely assumed to be authentic.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/06/urban-fox-hunt-chris-atkins

[snooper2]

1. ROFL

Greatness :rofl:

[Atman]

2. People are stupid.

Even across the pond.

Damn...I wonder if the parrot in the infamous Monty Python sketch was real, too? Someone should investigate.

[Capitalocracy]

3. Don't worry, it was just pining for the fjords. nt

[Matariki]

5. And yet...

I imagine posting it on DU would have created a flame war here... ;-)

[bergie321]

4. Stupid UK Media....

Oooh look a shiny balloon!

[Ian David]

6. A dingo ate me baby! n/t

[Ian David]

7. ... for death awaits you ALL with big, nasty, pointy teeth! n/t

[zogofzorkon]

8. You would think the BBC would recognize

their own.... <obje="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GXmaS1ZzpA8&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0"></param><param bjectname="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GXmaS1ZzpA8&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></o>ct width

[No Elephants]

Gives a whole new meaning to faux fox news

[No Elephants]

9. Gives a whole new meaning to faux fox news