General Chat

I accept that sometimes wild animals have to be culled, but chasing them with hounds and then watching them being torn apart is horrific in my eyes..
No living creature deserves to be hounded for pleasure and die in agony just to please some upper class morons.

Can the PM not see, or accept, that a wild fox being chased until its lungs give out and exhaustion delivers it to a pack of hounds to be eviscerated is "welfare compromised"?

And could this euphemism not also be applied to a hare that is terrorised, mauled and tossed about by dogs like a paper toy for the amusement of a crowd of gamblers and sightseers?

The welfare of a fox or fox cub that is dragged from its underground refuge with the aid of spades, terriers and poles wrapped with barbed wire is certainly compromised, whatever about claims that the hunt 'dig-out' is part of a proud rural tradition.

I'll say this very quietly.
Hunts are actually making more money now they don't hunt foxes.
More people turn out to watch the 'chase' now they don't have the fear of a fox being torn to pieces. They are asked to donate towards the upkeep of the dogs, and hunts are doing very well, thank you :-D

99% of anti-hunt people just don't like the cruelty involved. They seem to accept the odd Hooray Henry on his horse - they're part of the British eccentricity :-D (well those I know, anyway - I'd hate to say I/they speak for everyone)

I wont eat at a pub that supports fox hunting
much to the annoyance of some of my friends :-D :-D

It seems ludicrous to suggest that hunting is an efficient way of controlling the fox population.

In 2000 it was reckoned that people killed between 190,000 and 340,000 foxed per year. Of those between 18,000 and 22,000 were killed by hunts.

There were about 200 hunts so they average about 110 kills per hunt per year. To account for the number killed by snares and shooting (100,000-200,000) would require 5 to ten times the number of hunts.

Just think of all the extra horses and dogs needed, let alone the manpower.

Unusual surnames occasionally fascinate me & I try to determine how they came about.

In my junior school of the 1950s, (a long time ago!), we had a Miss Fox as a teacher, generally known amongst us in the rough & tumble of the playground as Maise Fox. I'm still working on the source of her surname. A great lady & a smashing educator. :-D

I wonder why there isn't the same attitude towards fishing especially coarse fishing?! an equally cruel 'sport!' but of no perceivable concern by the league or anyone else!!
Killing animals for food is ok?!!! presumably the manner of their lives and death is ok too?!! I can only suppose that commercial reasons over-ride cruelty issues in the case of animals for consumption, of which there are many, which of course makes it all alright, blind eye and all.that!!! To be so concerned about one cruelty to the point of moral hysteria, and seemingly oblivious or even condoning others by association is to me completely hypocritical.

Animals everywhere have little or no rights & the sentences handed out to those who abuse them rarely deter further maltreatment.

And if you try to film a coursing event, you'll soon find yourself being circled by the guardians of this 'sport' & promptly ejected from the venue.

I think you'll find that hare coursing is banned and totally illegal, obviously illicit hare coursing goes on, and any filming of illegal coursing is very dangerous as people who perpetrate this vile occupation are often criminals and can be very threatening and dangerous. It is however still legal in Eire.

Sorry but my view of "gentry" gathering with the sole purpose of hunting down an animal and giving it trauma as it tries to escape baying hounds and stupid people on horseback isnt my idea of humane actions

The awful thing of first blooding too is barbaric .

OK the fox may need to be culled but not by sport for the wealthy .

Yes the fox kills but its it natural instinct is for survival .If we have taken over its natural habitat so it crosses our path its the fault of us not the fox

‘Organised dog fighting is believed to be on the increase among some young British Asians. Dog fighting is a long-established tradition in parts of Pakistan but here in the UK, it is being linked to other violent criminality - with drug money being used to wage bets on the outcome of the fight‘.

(Excerpt from ‘The Report’ - BBC Radio 4 - Broadcast: 30th July 2009).

No comments about coarse fishing I notice!! Why aren't I surprised!! Horrible cruelty for those poor fish purely in the name is sport. Who caught the biggest etc! I think this hullabaloo about fox hunting has much more to do with the absurd dislike for people who partake, (not all of them are wealthy, and what a quaint old fashioned word gentry is!!) and far less concern for the fox than we are lead to believe, or is it a case of selective cruelty?!!

I haven't seen anyone wearing a fox fur coat lately. Is that progress?

I agree Magpie, coarse fishing is also cruel and should be discontinued.

Unfortunately if there isn't enough support to get fox hunting banned once and for all, then there is little chance of banning sports that involve cruelty to non-mammals.

Regarding landed gentry, that is irrelevant. Fox hunting should be banned whoever is doing it.

Fox hunting is deemed by many to be a part of English life.

Years ago I covered the hunt protests for a national newspaper and was disgusted by the behaviour, violence, arrogance and antagonism of the "trouble baiting" protesters. They were more animals than the foxes themselves.

I may not agree with some of the more cruel aspects but I do agree with keeping vermin down, just as I agree with a badger cull in principle.

My view is - you go fishing, you catch a fish, you kill it, you take it home and eat it!!
(apart from the fish I caught, as a child, in Mevagissey when I was crabbing - it was just a small body, tail fins and a huge mouth full of at least 2 layers of enormous sharp teeth!!)
This Is the nearest to what it looked like:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8880000/newsid_8880700/8880785.stm

I know it should be deep down, but it was in the harbour!! :-0

I have ridden to hounds since about the age of six, harriers not fox, foxhounds were run on foot in The Lakes...

Also, I enjoyed point to point racing, for a horse to be eligible it has to qualify by hunting a minimum of four times in a season...this can be done with draghounds....

As the daughter of a farmer and country lover/dweller, I would welcome the return to hunting live quarry, it's been part of the English countryside for generations....

Mistyx

I vowed I would not join this debate. -..........
I am anti hunt always have been, always will be. Proudly been arrested for it. I object to the tally ho crowd ( that I was brought up amongst) getting their jollies chasing defenseless animals. I stopped anti. hunting when the protesters began to harm the animals and it became a class war.

Foxes and other animals need to be kept at a level, are humans not just another warm blooded mammal ? ) .
Before you agree to hunting ask yourself if you would like to be chased until you couldn´t run no more and rather than a quick death you are ripped to pieces.

Much more fun with a couple of potential marathon runners and aniseed :-D
If the quarry is caught, it can be licked to within an inch of it's life :-D

Some hunters agree Maggie but many don´t :-( If they did they wouldn´t be trying to overturn the hunting law.

I would really like not just turn them out to be chased but put their family in a burrow where they have to protect or run.
nasty YES but what the hunt does is not nice either