To think there's never an excuse for fox hunting

[catspyjamas27]

There's a bull fighting thread up atm.

I feel the same about fox hunting. I live rurally, I get that foxes can cause devastating damage. But is it ever ok to hunt one down and watch it being tore apart for fun?

I just can't get my head around the mentality of the people who enjoy this shit?

I agree. It's barbaric. Drag hunting is fine, but not fox hunting.

I also struggle with shooting pheasants. I always assumed that the birds were eaten, so thought fair enough, these birds must have a better quality of life than the chickens that many people buy from supermarkets.

But no! They are often shot but not eaten.

I know people who ride/hunt. It has totally changed my opinion of them. It would literally turn my stomach to see this happen. I don't get it at all.

Never an excuse

Agree. No matter your views on foxes (vermin or cute wildlife), being chased down and ripped apart is a horrific terrifying death that no animal deserves.

Plus the dogs are treated like absolute shit and all the other wildlife that gets in the way (deer, hares, otters, pet cats) suffer too.

And ‘trail’ or ‘drag’ hunting is usually a cover for illegal fox hunting

In the UK, perhaps. I live in Australia, where foxes are an ecological disaster in a unique and fragile ecosystem. We use horses and foxhounds to flush them out to be shot. I think it's actually one of the most humane methods of control here - much better than poison. If the hounds to catch one, it's all over much faster than baiting, or even being shot in some cases - the hounds grab and shake ( like a dog shaking a toy ) and that kills them immediately. They also do not tear them apart; foxhounds are pretty soft mouthed.

Please don't tar all horse riders because some hunt. And please don't tar all trail/drag hunts, because some use that as a cover.

There are hunts who have never followed the trail of a fox, who get treated very badly, totally unfairly.

I don't personally agree with fox hunting. Even if you agreed that foxes needed controlling (and I'm not saying I do), I think the methods in which this is done need very careful thought. And a big group of people having a jolly while the foxes are killed is just inappropriate in the modern day & age.

@Loopyloopy you think they get shaken to death and it’s a humane method whatever makes you sleep at night.

If you’re talking about hunting with dogs, then you’re over a decade out. But I wouldn’t worry too much, it’s about the only thing the rspca as an organisation are interested in pursuing. Whereas any moron with a gun can take a potshot or use disgusting traps so the fox dies a lingering death from gangrene or starvation and that’s ok. Ditto all the other horrible and slow ways foxes die without the rspca giving a flying fuck. Or indeed all the other animal welfare issues that at an organisational level the rspca don’t give a fuck about.

But I’m sure from the foxes pov, there’s a lot of comfort in knowing the rspca will pursue it to the ends of the earth if it dies at the hands of people who are perceived as being toffs.

I’m not a fan. But on the other hand I feel a bit uncomfortable condemning it outright when I don’t know much about it at all.

The dogs are often treated appallingly too - not in all cases but sometimes they're just left for dead and the hunt moves on.

Lochjessmonter, that's completely incorrect. Foxhounds are trained not to chase anything but foxes. They are dogs, so sometimes will do dog things, but the restraint they show is pretty amazing. They also have much better lives than most pet dogs.

It’s barbaric. Why anyone would want to hunt any animal is beyond me.

@loopyloopy last year out of control foxhounds attacked an alpaca farm and a cat rescue, severely injuring (to the point of PTS) dozens of animals. Peoples pet cats and dogs have also been attacked/killed.
Deer and hares are often killed during the hunt.
Hunts and hounds don’t discriminate

Lochjessmonter, it's finding my lambs with their entrails hanging out that keeps me up at night. If I had a perfectly humane solution for foxes, I would use it. However, poisons are nasty, and guns alone, even in the best hands, aren't always fast. What do you suggest I do?

I'm talking about doing it for sport. About a bunch of wankers having a day out on their horses while their dogs chase, hunt and rip foxes apart. For fun.

Yes there probably are other terrible ways that foxes and other wildlife are caught and killed. It's all pretty sickening. But to do it for fun? To enjoy being part of that? That's pretty gross imo

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cats-hunt-fox-hounds-deer-sussex-hastings-celia-hammond-a8151911.html%

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-derbyshire-46650980

A cat rescue? Really?

Killing anything for "sport" is disgusting and barbaric.

Correct link- www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cats-hunt-fox-hounds-deer-sussex-hastings-celia-hammond-a8151911.html%3famp

"The unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable".

(A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde)

Secure your flock better, invest in some guard alpacas (as long as the foxhounds don’t get to them).
Shoot them if you must.

Setting dogs on them is disgusting

I'm no huge supporter of fox hunting @LochJessMonster but "secure your flock better and get guard alpacas"?

Could you have any less idea of the reality of trying to keep a flock safe over tens of acres of open countryside?

Silliest thing I've heard in a while.

Foxes aren't stupid either. We bought the most secure henhouse we could find. It was raised off the ground, had intricate locking systems for the pop doors, and was sat on a paved area so they couldn't even dig into the mini run surrounding it (the hens were free range, the mini run just came with the house).

They pulled the roof off. Never seen that before.

@lockheart it was a flippant comment relating to the alpaca attack I posted above.

Foxes were there long before your flock/hens. They are acting naturally. Nothing natural about sitting on a horse laughing at the sight of a fox being ripped apart.

I understand foxes are considered vermin to some. I know they are destructive and prolific killers. But fox hunting is not the answer.
There’s a reason cock fighting, bear baiting, pig hunting is no longer accepted in this country. Animals being set on animals is disgusting.

Having seen brer fox in action after my poultry nothing surprises me. They are in a frenzy and do not even notice humans.

No fox hunting is inefficient and cruel, a gun in the right hands is a quick humane way to dispatch them. I will never understand fox hunting and I say this as someone who loves to eat game and will happily pluck and draw a bird.

So really op it’s a bit like when people get together round a table at a restaurant, or at home, or at school as a social activity and eat factory farmed meat. Completely unnecessary animal cruelty for nothing but human enjoyment.

Regardless of the method you think most humane, anyone with any knowledge knows the fox population needs to be kept under control. But nobody actually needs to eat meat, even humanly raised and slaughtered.

I’d rather live and die as a fox caught by the hounds than a factory chicken, but enjoying a bit of tortured chicken or supermarket milk doesn’t inspire the inverse snobbery quite the same does it?