Banning Fox Hunting: A Look at its Pros and Cons

[Math Is Hard]

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.

Ugh! I seem to remember seeing a picture this. It was of Prince William after his first fox hunt. Yuck.

 

[physicsisphirst]

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..

in all this, I'm sure that the fox has an opinion too.

so did sir george bernard shaw in descibing foxhunting:

The unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible.

(the quote is also attributed to oscar wilde and noel coward, apparently)

glad they are finally getting around to banning it. so are the foxes, I'm sure.

in friendship,
prad

 

[arildno]

Ah, but George Bernhard Shaw was a RATIONAL Irishman!

 

[timejim]

The quickest and most humane way to catch a fox is with a chicken. Put a tracking collar on the chicken, then, with a sophisticated GPS tracking system you can locate the foxes den. Then, if they are bothering you, just go to the den, trap them and move them to another area. ??

 

[Moonbear]

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?

Right, not bred for hunting, but they are already caught, right? In other words, somebody already managed to get the rascal into a trap and could have humanely euthanized it rather than re-releasing it and sending a few dozen dogs after it to chew it apart. That's neither population control nor sportsman-like.

As for Jimmy's comment about the fox in the henhouse, sure, in that case, quickly kill the fox by shooting it before it kills all your chickens, or trap it.