Ripping live animals apart is a wonderful British tradition that should be preseved.

[ItsAWonderfulCervix]

Let's overturn the ban. After all boxing day just isn't any fun without a few dead foxes and blood and guts and stuff.

And while we're at it, don't you just love a bit of badger baiting for variety When shredding foxes gets dull.

I have just made up some dog food sandwiches for our two visiting foxes. One has just been. I am glad he's still with us. I have got to go to the wildlife centre to get some Stronghold to put in their food tomorrow as one of them has got mange.

Sash

Yanbu-the culling of foxes,badgers,deer etc is perfectly acceptable.Doing it in such a despicable way is not. Lets face it if they had the choice they would be hunting down the plebs and still exercising Droit de seigneur so its fuck all to do with "culling" and all to do with showing how much better they are than the lower classes.

I used to be against fox hunting now I dont really care either way. I think hunting is an easy target and some hunt sabs are more horrificly cruel to the hunt animals than a fox being hunted. Perhaps if its all about pest control, vixens should just be dug out of their burrows and shot when they have cubs? Would that be better than hunting?

Gah stupid phone! Sashh yes, I do see that. But I still find it surprising that the - admittedly horrible - deaths of a relatively small number of foxes is so hyped up, when thousands of animals have horrible deaths every day, at human hands, and often for little purpose. And ultimately I suppose I think death is death, whether an animal is killed by a dog on a hunt, or by an abbatoir worker, it's still a shitty end for the animal, and it's only really happened so that some people can get some enjoyment, from adrenaline or a juicy chop. What's the difference?

I don't agree with fox hunting but I have no issue with drag hunting. Our local hunt only take a few dogs out so they don't lose control of them. This sounds fine to me. I'm sure the chase is absolutely amazing, as long as nothing gets killed then I have no issue.

some hunt sabs are more horrificly cruel to the hunt animals

Yes, some hunt sabs I used to know were fucking arsehole. They took it one step further with the home made letter bombs, although I did not know this at the time, until I switched on the news years later and saw one of them ...

Madlizzy organic means that sick animals do not have medicine they need administered and suffer.

No, it does not. Sick animals can be treated with antibiotics and still be considered organic. What isn't allowed is the routine use of antibiotics for growth or to treat whole herds. You can read more on the
Soil association website

I come from a family which hunts.

If you kill it you eat it.

I like rabbit

I am with Ginnel.

I think factory farming which ends in a death in a slaughterhouse is a million times worse than a free range life followed by a brutal but probably pretty quick death outdoors. Animals are used to chasing and being chased by predators.

I agree minifingers.

Or they could have a free range life and a less brutal, quick death. No need to dress up, chase something to death and then celebrate it.

I don't agree it's a class thing either.

I'm not sure there are too many packs of wild dogs roaming the countryside chasing and killing foxes

Why shouldn't people dress up, hunt then celebrate their success?

Tribes across the world do it and have done since the dawn of time.

Tribes across the world do it and have done since the dawn of time.

Doesn't make it right. People used to hunt and burn witches too. Perhaps we should reignite that tradition too.

Just because something has been happening for a long time doesn't mean that it should continue.

well said randy and merry.

I never understand why people condone hunting by bringing factory farming into the discussion. They are two separate points. In my opinion both have no place in civilised society because both involve us inflicting unnecessary suffering onto another living thing for our own pleasure. I own a farm, I have horses so I'm not a townie. We lost 20 chickens to a fox, I didn't blame the fox. It was my fault for not protecting my chickens properly. People that hunt don't give a shit about the balance of the countryside. Most of them live in towns. It's not a class thing for me because most people I know that hunt aren't upper class, they are people who enjoy charging around fields and getting pissed. I can understand it. I'd enjoy it myself if it wasn't for the fox killing.

Kill for food, understandable.
Kill for fun, sick as fuck.

All those saying hunting is singled out because of class, weren't dog fighting, hare coursing and cock baiting solidly working class and banned long before hunting was? I believe so.

Why is it that the fox hunting debate always ends in hysteria?

Drag hunting is just much fun and often with better planned routes for the participants, it dpesn't however do anything for control of the fox population. If there were a better way of ensuring that the old or infirm foxes could be separated and humanely destroyed then that would be far better, culling does not do this. In any natural habitat predators ensure that for the most part survival of the fittest reigns. Historically there is always a problem when this isn't the case.
Humans have for quite some time been a predator for the fox and through hunting and farmers protecting their livestock this has done a reasonable job, if not to the taste of the wider population.

For the record the vast majority of modern hunts did not end with foxes being torn limb from limb, if the fox was caught it was shot, some hunts allow the hounds the remains, most don't from what I've heard/seen.

I firmly believe that the only reason the fox hunting saga gained such attention and revile is because it has been perceived to be the sport of the wealthy and entitled. Of course the very idea of anyone gaining pleasure from intentionally harming an animal doesn't sit comfortably with many people either. Hunting is far more than a bloodthirsty sport for toffs and sadists though and too much propaganda has been used from the anti's for any rational debate to take place.

I also personally feel that the cases of animal cruelty, neglect and abuse in domestic settings are far worse than anything seen on the hunting field, never mind the conditions frequently seen in the meat and animal produce side of things.

Unfortunately for the animal population of the world we are a dangerous and often cruel species to be around. The fox comes off rather lightly in comparison.

Surely the fox hunting debate ended in a ban?

A recent MORI poll found that about 80% of the population still supports the ban.

There was no noticeable distinction between town and country either - still about 80% in rural areas which rather knocks the "oh you don't understand the countryside" argument twaddle on the head.

I don't have an issue with someone hunting something efficiently and then eating it.

But hunting a fox is not efficient and it doesn't get eaten.

I'm not a "townie". I have horses, know most of the local hunt, BIL is a farm vet, I do eventing, have lots of friends who are farmers, spent most of my childhood on farms, go to the point to point etc etc

But I'm with Oscar Wilde on fox hunting.

I am properly one of the most rural people you could meet. Tiny village in herts,lots of horsey people(I am one of them) have never lived anywhere else and neither have my parents. Years ago at my stables I was invited 'cubbing'. Having never hunted before but witnessed a great deal I asked what this was? The answer was hunting adolescent foxes to train the hounds. Discussed doesnt describe it. Also many people had cats and other animals killed by hounds and there was a telephone warning not to walk your dogs or try and have a peaceful hack when the hunt was about. There is a nice man however who is very skilled at controlling the deer population by shooting. He watches the herd and can see which ones are getting old and sick. They know no stress. One minute they are grazing,the next they are dead. The stress those foxes must fell sickens me.

Disgusted. Stupid iPad.