City girl dates rural boy - ethical issues bothering me, thoughts?

[Kefalonia1]

I have seeing my boyfriend for 4 months and have never dated a guy from a rural place before. He grew up on a farm so I feel is quite desensitised to the general killing of animals - he does eat a lot of meat and that's fine, as I'm not veggie but do like to balance things out with veggie meals which he says he is really open to.

Anyway, the issue. Up until now I have seen him as an animal lover - seen him interacting with animals on the farm, peoples pets etc. He gave me an Attenborough DVD to borrow and he gets quite gooey over the animals.

A few days ago he said something that shocked me - basically that foxes are 'vermin' citing chickens they steal from farms etc. I love foxes and grew up in a family that is fond of our urban foxes (I know this issue is not widely shared). Although he said he disagrees with the cruelty of fox hunting with dogs etc. Then we were talking about people who wear fur and he said it didn't really bother him/he hadn't thought about it much before. Well it bothered me because I would never wear fur and find it unethical to do so - electrocuting live animals and then slaying them alive anyone?

In the end my boyfriend, who hates conflict (and I dislike it too until/if I feel passionately about something) said we should just 'avoid' the topic. But to me I feel he is condoning cruelty to animals? And in another way I am trying to see how his point of view might differ to mine because of his upbringing?

But yeah, I haven't introduced him to my family yet and if he said any of that stuff to them that would be it I think. I am meant to be having a nice dinner with him tomorrow but this is still really bothering me..what are your thoughts?

Predators only expand in response to prey numbers, unless they are exploiting a human source of food that is virtually endless (e.g. rats around grain stores, gulls and rubbish/chips). There are always natural fluctuations in prey numbers it usually goes in cycles affected by weather. Otter population exploded because we started looking after rivers better, so more natural food and habitat.

I'm trying to imagine what you think the natural predator of a badger is/was. Or even a direct competitor, given that they will rely heavily on earthworms when other food isn't available. I don't think wolves or bears would have targetted them much. What happened with badgers and otters especially is that humans did a good job of trying to exterminate them, then stopped/slowed down when numbers meant there wasn't enough left to cause too much inconvenience, then they have bounced back and people ate getting itchy trigger fingers now they have to live alongside them again.

They aren't over populated, there are just more than people have been used to over the past generation or two.

There may be local issues because the otters have recovered/returned faster than the crayfish can cope with. But surely the larger problem is the non native crayfish which could be selectively fished?

There are some really condescending country folk on this thread., who aren't very good at getting their point over!

OP I can see your points. I would feel exactly the same as you and probably wouldn't be able to stay with someone with opposite views on something I regard as important to me.

I am a country girl. Born and bred. Live on a small holding, surrounded by farms, have hens, worked with horses and worked for someone who hunted for a year, went with him once. So have a decent experience of both sides of the fence.

I am very much anti hunting with dogs. It's more about the sport for the members than keeping the fox population down. If it really needs doing, I prefer lamping. Personally I believe that if you have animals you have to protect them. Our hen's only get to free range while I'm around, otherwise they have a huge run (80mx15m) to roam in (apart from while this Defra ban is in place, of course). The only time we have lost them to a fox is when we were slow to repair a corner of the fence that had partially fallen. I 100% blame myself, not the fox. While the (7') fence is in good repair the fox goes for the local wildlife, which is the easier option. And while I've heard of foxes killing half born cows and lambs as detailed in a previous post, I've never heard of it on farms where stock lamb or calf indoors and are left in for a few days to get strong. It's just harder work for the farmer..

Oh and re the fox killing for fun and leaving bodies, actually they would come back for the bodies and bury them. Most don't come back as they are disturbed by humans finding the kill, the same humans that then think the fox has killed for fun.. When we had our hen's killed we left all 12 bodies out in a field (they were dead anyway, something may as well eat them) and the whole lot had gone by morning.

I don't know why people go so gooey over foxes. They're viscous buggers. I don't like fox hunting much but I think the mass production of cheap meant is a WAY bigger animal cruelty issue.

I once met a townie who hated fox-hunting and used to buy the cheapest frozen chicken pieces going to feed to the urban foxes.

Kefalonia he sounds like a decent bloke. No need to be ashamed of him or keep him away from your family.

I don't think any of those comments he made sound unethical. His opinions are different to yours. You are fond of foxes, he is not. You feel strongly about wearing fur. He had never thought about it much. None of that would be a deal breaker for me.

Sorry, but I'm still laughing at your "effort" to cut meat to 2-3x per week

Has that been really hard then?