Beagles

How to spot an illegal beagle

Up to the end of the Second World War, there was very little difference in appearance between hunting beagles and the pet / show type. Since then however the two have evolved in very different directions, to the extent that they now have very different physical features.

The show / pet beagle is a much more heavily built animal. It tends to have a heavy, boxy head, much wider than the hunting type especially across the jaws. The skull tends to be domed. Eyes are deep set with a soft, gentle expression. Show / pet beagles tend to be larger than the hunting type. See the picture below for a typical (actually very lovely) example.

If you see a beagle with a head like this, it is 99% certainly show / pet type.

The hunting beagle is usually much lighter. See the picture below. The head is smaller and finer, sometimes almost Jack Russell - like in appearance. Ears are often frayed at the edges, due to working in rough cover. Click here for more pictures of typical hunting beagles as used in the UK. This page has several full size images on it, so it may be a bit slow to load, especially if you live in Gedney Drove End or Lampeter, or anywhere else where people still point at passing cars. I was going to do thumbnails, but that would rather defeat the point of that particular page.

Note that it is not uncommon, when hunting beagles have been handed in to the police or animal shelters, for them to be described as 'beagle-cross' or even 'Jack Russell cross'. It is hard to imagine this happening with the better known show / pet type of beagle.

Colours - most show breeders seem to be aiming for the classic 'tri-colour' markings of black, white and tan in about equal proportions. Hunting beagles are much more likely to have unusual colours and markings. These may include all white, mainly black and tan with small white patches, blue or red mottling over the white areas, very light tan and white ('lemon and white'), or lighter coloured hairs among the dark patches, causing them to blend into the white areas rather than being clearly separated ('badger pie', so called because a badger has similar blending of colours in its coat). See the picture below for some typical examples. Note that many of the Wye Beagles were mostly black and tan.

The vast majority of hunting beagles have letters and / or numbers tattooed in one or both ears. This is a dead giveaway, and the ALF has been known to have tattoos surgically removed. I don't think the beagles liked it very much. I have never seen the results of such an operation, but I would guess it leaves scar tissue on the inside of the ear flap. The Wye Beagles are / were all tattooed in both ears, with either 'WCB' or 'BB' in one ear, and a number in the other.

The only hound so far recovered had been neutered and the ear tattoo surgically removed.

Domestic beagles are an uncommon sight these days, and very few turn up in animal shelters for rehoming. So if you know of anyone who has recently acquired what looks like an ex-hunting beagle, please get in touch.