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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to say only psychopaths support fox hunting

673 replies

lubeybooby · 10/05/2017 15:51

the kind who would laugh at and enjoy watching kittens being set on fire (animal cruelty especially early in lifeis a marker for psychopathic tendencies)

Because it's just the same as that. Animal cruelty plain and simple.

Imagine a group of thugs chasing a terrified animal to give it a horrible death

Now imagine they are posh people on horseback

VILE

Theresa May makes me angrier every day. Disgusting excuse of a person.

I don't give a shit if you live in the country or anywhere in fact and foxes are a nuisance to you - kill them humanely if you must!

OP posts:
biscuiteater · 10/05/2017 22:31

I don't understand why people are so upset over fox hunting, it's either a class jealousy thing or animal welfare concerns. Foxes don't have any predators so do need to be culled, they shoot them round here. I personally don't have any strong feelings about fox hunting either way, it doesn't affect me but I admit I am glad a few get shot as we've had them in our house before and they have eaten our chickens on various occasions. As for animal welfare I think people would be better off spending their time lobbying to stop halal slaughter and other inhumane practices which affects more animals than foxes being killed especially as the hunt is illegal now. Also I very much doubt fox hunting will be reintroduced but animals are getting their throats slit and bleeding to death every day. Don't see people up in arms about that!

mimishimmi · 10/05/2017 22:32

I support it. They are a huge pest out here in Australia.

Notcontent · 10/05/2017 22:34

I agree OP. I got quite upset this morning when I read it was back on the agenda... It feels like the UK is going backwards in every way...

Btw, I am not vegetarian and I think hunting for food is ok. But killing for "fun" is not ok.

Notcontent · 10/05/2017 22:35

Mimi - controlling numbers ina humane way is very different to killing in a cruel way for fun.

KarmaNoMore · 10/05/2017 22:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Frillyhorseyknickers · 10/05/2017 22:42

frilly
how can you be an animal hunter and and animal lover at the same time?

Because I understand the need for predation control in the countryside to prevent issues in the food chain, inbreeding, poor health etc etc. I love foxes as a species I just understand the population requires controlling.

Just because I support sustainable population control and culling doesn't mean I can't be an animal lover?

ohgoshIdontknow · 10/05/2017 22:42

Brilliantly put bemorepanda

Theimpossiblegirl · 10/05/2017 22:45

Foxes are a pain in the arse if you have chickens but I wouldn't want them chased down to the point of terrified exhaustion and ripped apart. Not my idea of fun at all and anyone who would enjoy doing something like that is not to be trusted. Also, foxes don't know any better, but human beings should.

Frillyhorseyknickers · 10/05/2017 22:47

I will also say as a staunch supporter of the conservatives and of fox hunting - I categorically would not support a repeal of the Hunting Act and neither do any pro hunt supporters I know - because quite frankly there are more important things for the government to sort out right now.

BarbarianMum · 10/05/2017 22:53

"Foxes don't have any natural predators so need to be controlled."

Nature will control fox numbers through starvation and disease if you let it. Its quite clever.

CricketRuntAndRashers · 10/05/2017 22:55

Barbarian

As far as I know they simply tend to migrate to towns/cities where they usually find food on composts, rubbish bins etc....

OhYouBadBadKitten · 10/05/2017 22:56

yanbu.

If foxes really really had to be controlled, then there are vastly more humane ways.

sticklebrix · 10/05/2017 23:00

frilly that doesn't sound remotely sustainable to me. Surely population control would be more effective if it targeted fit foxes of breeding age? Foxes that are the most effective predators and most likely to reproduce?

Taking pleasure in the hunt is not necessarily psychopathic IMO. But it's quite similar to, say, stamping on snails for fun and then pointing out that they might have eaten your lettuce and that there are too many snails anyway. The fun part is sickening, although the rest might be true.

Valentine2 · 10/05/2017 23:01

frilly
But why can't this culling be organised scientifically and not this barbarically? I get that if a fox is entering my property to kill my animals, I must protect my animals. But what the hell is the point of organised hunting using packs of hounds set upon a scared animal? Why is there no other way in your eyes to control this?

Valentine2 · 10/05/2017 23:02

Surely population control would be more effective if it targeted fit foxes of breeding age? Foxes that are the most effective predators and most likely to reproduce?
^ this. I picked this up too in your post frilly. I don't think you should keep defending this barabaric practice.

Ratatatouille · 10/05/2017 23:02

I categorically would not support a repeal of the Hunting Act and neither do any pro hunt supporters I know

Well why would a hunt supporter really need to? They "stumble across" foxes often enough round here that it makes little difference whether the ban is upheld or not.

However you dress it up, the population control argument is utter rubbish. A decent gamekeeper would be able to cleanly shoot the old/infirm foxes in a humane way and at the approval point in the year. It certainly is not a job that requires 30 people on horseback and a pack of dogs. Why not just be honest about why you hunt? Why the crap excuses?

And as for it not being a bloodbath - ha bloody ha. There's a charming ritual for young hunters here when they first witness a kill, where the foxes tail is torn off and the blood smeared across the child's forehead. A great many of my classmates proudly showed us their initiation photographs.

Ratatatouille · 10/05/2017 23:04

appropriate point in the year

Frillyhorseyknickers · 10/05/2017 23:10

Nature will control fox numbers through starvation and disease if you let it. Its quite clever

You cannot be serious? We all have to live on this tiny island, all of us. I suggest you research into urban foxes migrated from the country when the territories get too small.

I'm quite sure I won't persuade MN any other way, but I'm happy in the mind that I know and understand the fox population and predation control better than 99% of the posters in his thread.

Judging by some of the comments a lot of you have evidently never been to the countryside. Look up your nearest open farm Sunday in June and educate yourselves. We have one open on our estate if anyone would like to come and meet me - I am happy to show you around our hunt kennels, stables, etc etc etc.

sticklebrix · 10/05/2017 23:45

Those last two paragraphs are quite spectacularly patronising Frilly !

I have plenty of farming connections, thanks. Country family background.

Valentine2 · 10/05/2017 23:47

Judging by some of the comments a lot of you have evidently never been to the countryside.
There are spectacular farms all around where I live in the countryside.
You have no argument that bears scientific scrutiny. It's just tradition you a re following no matter how you package it.

Kursk · 11/05/2017 00:14

Frilly

As a rifle hunter I have always thought that hunting with dogs was cruel, however I have not heard fox hunting explained in such a way. For the first time I can see the logic in the method.

Valentine

As I have mentioned on this post before me and my family shoot all our own meat. We are all very much animal lovers. Killing an animal is something that I really do not enjoy. However I eat meat and it's my responsibility to pay the price that comes with that.

KarmaNoMore · 11/05/2017 00:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BBTHREE76 · 11/05/2017 01:11

YANBU. Fox hunting is barbaric and should remain banned. I was genuinely sitting on the fence about who to vote for in the GE but if fox hunting could be brought back thanks to Ms May, as mentioned upthread, then at least I now know who NOT to vote for.

aliphil · 11/05/2017 01:44

YABU.

"Hunting with hounds is the natural and most humane method of controlling all 4 quarry species in the countryside:
Natural because the wild animal is hunted in the environment that it knows and natural also because hunting does not use any alien technology (shooting, snaring etc.) for which the wild animal has no natural defence.
Humane because it is certain - there is no wounding with hunting the animal is either killed almost instantaneously or it escapes unharmed and humane also because hunting provides a unique search and dispatch function for wounded and diseased animals."

www.vet-wildlifemanagement.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22&Itemid=34

MangosteenSoda · 11/05/2017 01:52

I'm actually furious that this has been put back on the political agenda. The first time around it consumed so much parliamentary time and energy that could have been so much better spent elsewhere. Now we have the opportunity cost of Brexit to deal with, May wants to introduce another divisive time-sucking debate for absolutely no good reason. When is any actual governing going to get done?

And as for fucking fox hunting:

  1. It's perfectly possible to ride about the countryside in big groups of people wearing red, with big packs of dogs, without ripping a terrified fox to shreds.
  1. Want to control the fox population? Fine. There are much more efficient ways of doing it.
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