Banning Fox Hunting: A Look at its Pros and Cons

[wolram]

I have lived in a rural environment from birth, but i could never condone
hunting foxes with dogs, and have always thought that it is mainly an
upper class sport?
If the fox population has to be kept under control i know of several ways
it can be done humanly and a lot cheaper than a hunt.
But what do you think, on the negative side people will lose there jobs,
incomes.

 

[arildno]

It's part and parcel of Britain's whimsical traditions and delightfully obscure history.
It would be such a shame if Brits started acting rationally..

 

[Tsu]

It saddens me to think that people enjoy terrorizing an animal just for sport.

Just out of curiosity, wolram - WHO would loose their jobs and income? Do they breed the foxes for hunts? If so, then yes, I guess the breeders would loose their jobs. But if they breed them for the hunts, why would the fox population need to be kept under control? I'm confused. :

DON'T SHOOT THE LITTLE FOXES! (unless they're in the chicken house stealing your eggs! - Then - WASTE 'EM! )

 

[Math Is Hard]

Tsu, do you have any foxes on your property?

 

[i_wish_i_was_smart]

It saddens me to think that people enjoy terrorizing an animal just for sport.

Just out of curiosity, wolram - WHO would loose their jobs and income? Do they breed the foxes for hunts? If so, then yes, I guess the breeders would loose their jobs. But if they breed them for the hunts, why would the fox population need to be kept under control? I'm confused. :SURPRISED:

DON'T SHOOT THE LITTLE FOXES! (unless they're in the chicken house stealing your eggs! - Then - WASTE 'EM! )

different animal population need to be kept under control and different point and times, especialy on a small island such as Great Britain, if there is too much of 1 species it can become a nuicents wether it be prey or predator, too many foxes means less food they have per day which means they would have to find other means of survival, like moving to the city, and no one wants that.

 

[Gokul43201]

I think all hunting for sport is essentially...ummm...to put this delicately : barbaric.

It's a stupid, macho desire to feel superior to some poor, unarmed critters...or it's some aspect of human nature that eludes me...but that's a different matter.

<I need to practice my euphemisms.>

 

[Tsu]

No, MIH. We don't have any foxes. (At least none that I have seen.) We do have a lot of cayotes, though. They seem to like sheep pretty well, and since we live in one of the world's largest grass fields, we also have a LOT of sheep around here!

IWIWS - I can understand the need for keeping fox populations down (we have the same problem with deer), but from what little I've seen of fox hunts, I thought they released the fox just before the hunt, so I've just assumed that they bred them specifically for hunting. Is this not true?

 

[arildno]

Thank gods we Norwegians are so humane!
1. We only hunt whales for scientific purposes (with just a bit of yummy meat getting to the stores)
2. We kill seals by planting an axe in their heads, closing their tear-filled eyes forever
3. And moose taste good as well..
Aren't we a civilized nation?

 

[Gokul43201]

Yeah, better than clubbing baby seals to death, I guess...

 

[arildno]

Yeah, better than clubbing baby seals to death, I guess...

Nowadays, we only axe them..

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I used to hunt American foxes [back when I was a wild and crazy guy] but Tsu took control of my gun.

 

[russ_watters]

I used to hunt American foxes [back when I was a wild and crazy guy] but Tsu took control of my gun.

Ouch! (am I reading too far into that?)

It's part and parcel of Britain's whimsical traditions and delightfully obscure history.
It would be such a shame if Brits started acting rationally...

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[arildno]

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Actually, I paraphrased Morley Safer from memory..

 

[wolram]

Tsunami
No my friend foxes are not bred for the hunt, as with all wild life it is deemed that if
considered a pest then it must be exterminated, but it is the method i question.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

To what exactly do you object; the dogs? If so, why? IIRC, we banned hunting something, I think wild cats [mountain lions] and bear, with dogs; here in Oregon, about ten years ago. I guess the dogs and the prey would often fight to the death before the guns ever arrived. Is this a similar situation?

 

[Ba]

Why bother killing the little foxes, they really harmless if you're going to kill something, shoot some more deer. After all there are way too many of them and they cause more human deaths than any other animal in North America (car accidents mostly). Besides they eat everybodies gardens.

 

[Andy]

I live very close to the New Forest in England, and i don't think any hunts go on in the forest but the Fox population is booming around where i live. And they quite often rip open rubbish bags scavenging for food because their is too many of them around now. I don't like the idea of poor little foxy getting ripped apart, but once the hounds get him it is a quick death. I would like to hear of the more humane methods of killing culling the fox population, rifles can be very innacurate and i have recently found a fox struggling with its life with what was a gunshot wound through its stomach, yet it didnt die and it had probably been there for quite a while, a guess I am saying that the hounds don't wound the foxes they kill them very quickly but the bullet isn't always accurate and can lead to a very distressing death.

Oh and its the Hounds that a bred for the hunt I am assuming a lot of horses are only ever used for the hunt aswell.

 

[Andy]

Oh and i called out the RSPCA to deal with the fox. I am assuming the would have put him to sleep.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Aside from hunting [guns] or poisoning, or starvation due to overpopulation, natural predators seem the only other option. Dogs make good predators.

 

[Math Is Hard]

In a fox hunt, isn't there some kind of custom of putting the rabbit's blood on the winner's face when it's over? I always thought that was a particularly barbaric tradition.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Oh and its the Hounds that a bred for the hunt I am assuming a lot of horses are only ever used for the hunt aswell.

I'm confused. When they hunt with dogs, do they use dogs only; no guns? Here people use dogs for tracking in addition to guns.

 

[Zantra]

Where I grew up in midwest US (michigan if anyone cares) hunting season is a big thing. Some of the larger michigan based companies will even provide a holiday (some mask it as election day) off for opening day. But deer is the big thing to hunt there. And it's mostly for population control purposes. So I think hunting to keep the ecological balance is justified. I'm not PRO NRA, but I'm not PETA either.. Deer jerky is really tasty, so I guess I'm MOTR. I have fired several different guns, but I've never been hunting, though I have had many friends who have. It's very relaxing, yet exciting at the same time, if you can imagine. Although I imagine deer hunting is vastly different than a foxhunt.

 

[Moonbear]

I don't have a problem with hunting as a form of population control, such as occurs with deer hunting. But, my understanding of fox hunting is they release a captive fox for the hounds to hunt. That's not helping control the wild population. It might be different if they were heading out into the wilderness and flushing out wild foxes that were overpopulated. If the population is stable, then no need for the hunt. And if you've already caught the fox, there's no sportsmanship to setting it loose again just so it can be ripped apart by dogs.

 

[Tsu]

Ouch! (am I reading too far into that?)

No.

 

[Tsu]

I don't have a problem with hunting as a form of population control, such as occurs with deer hunting. But, my understanding of fox hunting is they release a captive fox for the hounds to hunt. That's not helping control the wild population. It might be different if they were heading out into the wilderness and flushing out wild foxes that were overpopulated. If the population is stable, then no need for the hunt. And if you've already caught the fox, there's no sportsmanship to setting it loose again just so it can be ripped apart by dogs.

That was my understanding as well, Moonbear. I have no problem with using hunting as population control - as long as you (or someone!) EAT(s) what you have killed. Killing for sport is something I have never condoned.

 

[wolram]

By Ivan
To what exactly do you object; the dogs? If so, why? IIRC, we banned hunting something, I think wild cats [mountain lions] and bear, with dogs; here in Oregon, about ten years ago. I guess the dogs and the prey would often fight to the death before the guns ever arrived. Is this a similar situation?
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Yes Ivan the fox is ripped apart by the dogs, usually after being chased to
exhaustion.

 

[wolram]

By Moonbear
I don't have a problem with hunting as a form of population control, such as occurs with deer hunting. But, my understanding of fox hunting is they release a captive fox for the hounds to hunt. That's not helping control the wild population. It might be different if they were heading out into the wilderness and flushing out wild foxes that were overpopulated. If the population is stable, then no need for the hunt. And if you've already caught the fox, there's no sportsmanship to setting it loose again just so it can be ripped apart by dogs.
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Moonbear, The foxes are not bread for hunting, but the end result is the
same, I agree that pest? population has to be controlled, but the death of
one fox by the jaws of 20, 30 ,40 dogs and god knows how many
galloping hooray heneries is not pest control, it is sport?

 

[wolram]

By Maths is hard
In a fox hunt, isn't there some kind of custom of putting the rabbit's blood on the winner's face when it's over? I always thought that was a particularly barbaric tradition.
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Disgusting isn't it but a first timer is smeared with the blood of the victim.

 

[i_wish_i_was_smart]

i believe they make a sport out of pest control, make it more fun

 

[jimmy p]

The problem with foxes is that when they get into a chicken pen, they don't kill one chicken and take it away, they kill all the chickens and eat one. I don't condone hunting for fun, but I believe that farmers should be allowed to shoot foxes to protect their livelihood. Hunting for sport is barbaric because the hunters use the dogs to tear apart the foxes, instead of shooting them. The only thing that the toffee-noses do is ride on their horseys and sip tea. It is sickening. The stupid thing is that the majority of foxes do get away, and the odd times the hunters go out would not be enough to effectively control the fox population, so it is just another pointless bloodsport.