The land off Highway 905 where the fox pen would be built
For more than a year and a half, Horry County has been going back and forth on whether a Conway couple can build a fox pen on their property.
Nearly 30 people attended the zoning board of appeals meeting Monday night as the board discussed the pens again.
It's a quality of life and safety issue for some, who just don't want foxes near their homes and families.
The fox pen, slated to go up on Highway 905, has been caught up in appeals since September 2009. It went from the zoning board of appeals to a circuit court of appeals, who then sent it back to the zoning board of appeals.
The couple is exhausted, according to their lawyer Reese Boyd. Boyd says the couple and the contractor who has started work on the pen, have already spent $70,000 on it. He says they just want a result. "It can grow weary for the client. They're ready to have an answer and move forward," Boyd says.
The Humane Society of the United States has in the past praised decisions in other states that have banned what the group termed a "cruel practice," referring to fox pens. A fox pen is an enclosed area of land where dozens of foxes and coyotes are released and chased by hunting dogs.
"How unfair is that to have them penned and then let them out?" Sandy Brown, Executive Director of the Grand Strand Humane Society said. "That is not sport, that is not game. That is just an inhumane practice."
Fox pens are legal in the state of South Carolina, and there are currently 12 fox pens in Horry County.
Boyd said his clients have been caught in a debate between hunting and hobby.
