Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring’s Animal Law Unit has secured guilty pleas from nine individuals, including two from Gloucester County, as part of a sweep targeting fox pens stocked with illegal wildlife, according to a July 18 release from Herring’s office.

These convictions were part of a two-year investigation that followed legislation crafted by the Office of the Attorney General, which limits and eventually will phase out fox penning in Virginia, a practice in which wild foxes are trapped, confined and hunted by dogs for purposes of training, or in some cases, sport, competition and gambling, the release said.

Additionally, six fox pens in Buckingham, Lunenburg, Appomattox, Dinwiddie, King and Queen, and Brunswick have had their permits revoked or surrendered for stocking their pens with illegal wildlife, Herring announced.

Fox penning can become unlawful when operators put illegal foxes and coyotes into a fenced in area and allow dogs to chase—and s...