to think fox hunting is not a big deal at all?

[chandellina]

and should never have been the subject of national debate, since it affects about 100 people? (ok, maybe more, but not many)

I was a vegetarian when it was banned, btw. I just think it's such a non-issue, and can't believe it is still being trotted out as a reason not to vote Tory.

I like the urban hunt parallel herethere.

jurisfiction, I have never heard of the £70 thing. I've been on hunt sabs (admittedly a long time ago), but who would be paying it? Are you suggesting the saboteurs are just pretending to have their convictions and are only doing it for money?

I guess it becomes a national debate because it does actually matter to a lot of people whichever side of the fence they're on. To some people perhaps it's a very real, black and white, issue and they're clear what they think. While party policies in many other areas have big areas of grey.

It is illegal but that may change.

And it does not matter what class you are, any human that wants to hunt a living animal and kill it is just sick in the head.

Anyone who thinks that hunting is cruel should spend a day in an abbatoir. The way farm animals are treated prior to and during death is appalling. I am quite convinced that they know they are about to die and are treated wihout respect by slaughtermen.
So, I would far rather be a fox, who often outwits hounds and gets away, and who if caught by hounds dies instantly.
Foxes themselves kill for the sake of killing as anyone who has seen a henhouse after a visit from them knows only too well.So please do not think of foxes as cute and cuddly - they are killing machines when they get then chance.

That would never happen herethere..noone wants to hunt a soft townie fox...

Herethereandeverywhere - you could never hunt just to exercise your horse, it would not be fit enough. I am saying that it is not cruel to horses and that they stand as much chance of being injured on the road as they do out hunting.

I think you will find that apartheid affected everybody in some way in South Africa.

It did not involve taking a small and not particularly important issue and making a political selling point. The people voting to ban hunting had nothing to gain other to destroy something that other people understood and enjoyed.

for gods sake foxes are not killing machines. they hunt for food and if chickens were put in proper areas they would be safe. Its ignorance like this that gives them a bad rep.

yanbu

But they hunt and kill foxes for fun, its not like they are a dangerous animal ffs they run a mile at the slightest noise.

why cant they introduce bee hunting or spider hunting

They could gladly hunt bloody wasps

Hunting may not seem an important issue to you but for those who believe it is morally wrong, it is very important. Equally, it may not affect a majority of people but that doesn't make it any more right or acceptable (I could give a bunch of other parallels for that point, beastiality for example).

And FWIW I (used to) ride, you have my utmost sympathy about your horses, w*nker drivers on country lanes and those who don't respect horses on the road are the pits.

Foxes do kill a lot - I'm not saying they don't - I've seen their handiwork more than once but the whole hunt thing...

Most of the people I knew spent more time in the pub on hunt days but it just really bothers me this whole social construct around killing with dogs. I don't like hunting anywhere really but shooting and fishing seem less brutal and less 'ritualistic' (its the wrong word but I can't seem to find the right one).

its not a non issue. its an issue that would stop me voting for any party that was to overturn the ban.

herethereandeverywhere - great analogy. I think they'll need to be stopping to have a quick swig from their hip flask of white ligtening and a kebab

I hate that herethereandeverywhere. my dh will always slow down and turn the music down when he sees a horse. i cant stand it when others cant have the same consideration. just pure ignorance just like hunting foxes.

cant you bloody freaks find a different hobby!

Lil queen.. What? Do you live anywhere there are foxes? They do not only kill for food. They kill the lot and take one? I have seen it time and time again. Not just in places where they have been 'disturbed' and run off, but where they have had the whole night undisturbed.
Everyone else.. I am definately not upper class, I don't even consideryself middle class. I live in the country and have had a lot to do with hunts, farmers and general country people. Given the chance, which I get occasionally, and the nerves, which I don't, I would hunt! I feel that the whole hunt issue was fixed by labour to win votes. According to a doc I saw on the subject, there never was a referendum on the subject where a majority was in favour of the ban. A big problem we have in this country, is ignorance/naivety. People also have warped priorities. I have recently been on a thread re veggies, where someone actually believed it would be best for all farm animals should be released into the wild! Fox hunting is not a major priority in this country. Has anyone ever checked figures for how many foxes are killed each year? Compare this with the number of chickens in the intensive industry, that die, suffering, before even reaching the food chain, it's nothing. A chicken with foecal burns on it's hocks and deformed bones that starves to death or is trampled as it can't walk, suffers, a lot. And thousands die, day after day after day! Then consider human issues in this country. Homelessness, poverty, neglect. If you have time to worry about the plight of poor innocent foxes, you need to spend it rearranging your priorities!

Wubbly: LOL at the hipflask and kebab. And what about the equivalent to the horn? Surely a mobile phone ringtone of some sort?!!

The ban should not ever be overturned, has any party suggested they would? I could understand UKIP putting that in their manifesto, but surely as stupid as the Tories often are, this can't be in their manifesto can it?!?

To answer OP, you're right in a way, it shouldn't be a political issue or a subject for national debate, because as a civilised society we should be able to do without blood sports. The problem is that many people made some still do a good living out of supplying hunts and hounds for the sport and took the ban badly.

Is it still really an issue though?

Erm i dont think all us mnetters sit here worrying about it, its just the discussion thats going on right now. and i am doing nowt wrong as this is my luxury time and mn is my hobby.................

........ and at least my hobby does not kill anything!!

Tired mum.. I hope they don't start spider hunting, there isn't enough room for the ante's and the police in my bathtub! And the horses would play havoc with my bath mat!

larks, Cameron has said he'd like to overturn the ban.

blimey things move on when I take 20mins to write a short post!

OP YABU to think only 100 people were affected by the ban, it was most definitely more than that, I would guestimate at 5000 work-wise with regard to keeping hounds and mounts and another 2000000 who just liked galloping around for a reason and then probably about 100 who actually really enjoyed the kill.

It would be stupid to overturn the law now, is that the plan?

Out of interest how many of the hounds were put down? Before the ban, one of the major campaigning points of the pro-hunt groups was how many jobs would go and dogs put down as there would be no more hunting.

So, did it happen, or did things not change?

As for comments like whether we are wasting time considering the plight of foxes, compared with other things, I suppose the same could be said of the pro-hunting lobby when they were marching in London years ago.

"Just because something has been done for many years doesn't make it morally right."

Bear baiting, cock fighting, and dog fighting went on for years. Would those in favour of fox hunting propose these other blood "sports" be brought back too?