The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources responded last week to a report of several dead foxes discarded by the side of Morse Point Road in Peary.

Peary resident Tammy Powell said she was leaving for work last Tuesday when she saw the foxes on the ditch bank beside the road. Some looked mutilated, with entrails hanging out, said Powell, so she asked a friend who’s a state trooper to check into it. That friend reported the incident to DWR, she said.

Powell said the hunters she and her family know are all upset about the incident, since foxes aren’t readily available.

“It was not a very pretty sight,” she said. “You would think they would throw them in the woods if they didn’t want anybody to find them. All the hunters we know enjoy listening to the dogs run foxes, and don’t even kill them.”

Conservation officer’s evaluation

Conservation Officer Roy Morris of DWR said that the foxes all appeared to have been shot with a rifle. He said no witnesses had come forward so...