Popular or not, fox hunting is illegal (From Worcester News)
Get involved! Send your photos, video, news & views by texting WN NEWS to 80360 or e-mail us
Popular or not, fox hunting is illegal
8:10am Friday 5th March 2010 in Read
SIR – There seems to be a lot of argument around the subject of fox hunting at the moment.
Whether you support it or are against it shouldn’t matter. The hunting ban was enforced in 2004. It is the law and should be acknowledged. Why should the upper class feel that they are immune to it?
No matter how may foxes are killed, mother nature will restore the imbalance. Hunts kill about 20,000 foxes a year, but this is only 3 per cent of the fox population. Studies have shown that fox populations can survive losses of up to 70 per cent and still recover fully in the following year.
It seems to me that hunt supporters are aware of this and use their flawed ‘control method’ as a contradicted excuse to satisfy their blood lust.
Luke Gregg
Worcester
Comments(10)
says...
crowquill
says...
9:27am Fri 5 Mar 10
Still trying to peddle that the old class war chestnut! Get real!
"Hunts kill about 20,000 foxes a year, but this is only 3 per cent of the fox population. Studies have shown that fox populations can survive losses of up to 70 per cent and still recover fully in the following year. "
They very fact that you think this proves that this is a flawed method of control demonstrates that you have no comprehension of the purpose of hunting and why it was a better method of control than the random shooting/trapping of perfectly healthy foxes.
Tulstar
says...
12:08pm Fri 5 Mar 10
.
My grandad was a huntsman for years, and later on became hunt president. I have attended hunts since I was little. I know it may sound odd, but a lot of people attended meets just to see all the huntspeople turned out with the horses and hounds.
.
I love going to hunt meets and, although I don't follow it all of the time, I would definitely miss it if it disappeared altogether.
.
I don't want to get into a big pro/anti hunt argument - I'm just putting my view across.
Cromwell of Worcester
says...
9:36pm Fri 5 Mar 10
Tulstar
says...
9:27am Mon 8 Mar 10
.
Combine this with the fact that there were a large number of Hounds on any given hunt back in the days when it wasn't illegal, and I can't really justify their argument that the fox suffers a slow, painful death.
.
From my experience following hunts this certainly wasn't the case. Once the Fox had been caught, it was killed in seconds. Much less suffering was caused than by some of the slaughter methods used on animals, for example.
.
I'm afraid to say that a lot of the Anti-Hunt protesters don't have a clue and just seem to take things on face value. "Oh, the poor little fox"..
.
My a**e.
MHayworth
says...
9:29pm Mon 8 Mar 10
The pest control argument wouldn't be quite so hideous if the hunts hadn't been encouraging foxes to breed with their artificial earths for years. You forget that many anti-hunt activists are actually rural people and families of those who hunt so they do know exactly what they are talking about. They also know the cruelty that goes on around the hunt (practices like cubbing and some of the horrid things that are done to fox cubs in the process of training the hounds). There is just no need for any of this.
If you have any doubts, please take 10 minutes to read this story from a huntsman who later found his conscience. It is just one of so many. http://www.huntingin
quiry.gov.uk/evidenc
e/pellow.htm
M. Hayworth
Campaign For Decency
Worcesterman
says...
7:26am Wed 10 Mar 10
luke28
says...
5:46pm Thu 18 Mar 10
I would just like to thank ‘crowquill’ for attacking my views and calling me ‘chesnut’. Obviously, I have hit a raw nerve here - they decided to retaliate with childish sarcasm! Hmmm… Kind of paints a contradicted picture, don’t you think?
Also, how can ‘cromwell’ think that Halal killing is so barbaric and then tolerate an animal being ripped apart by a pack of hounds. Another contradiction. You either love animals and find all methods of culling, killing etc totally unnecessary, or you except it to be OK. You don’t go for one and not the other.
Finally, thanks ‘worcesterman’ for your informative view. We are not ‘pushing our will’. We are merely stating what the law says. In the meantime, we will try to educate people on what goes on in a hunt. Clearly, you admit to not knowing much about hunting. Did you know that foxes live on worms, rodents, rabbits and carrion and for this reason, foxes actually benefit farmers? Lambs and chickens that foxes take are likely to be already dead, weak or non-viable.
As stated by ‘Tulstar’ (in yet another contradiction), foxhounds are larger and are bred to run more slowly than the fox to sustain a good chase. The fox will outrun the hounds until it becomes exhausted and is overtaken by the hounds. Fox hunting is cruel by design. How can you justify the digging out of fox that has escaped by hiding in earths or badger sets by the terrier men? Once a fox ‘goes to ground’ then the hunt should stop. This is why the hunting act was put into place.
nebhunting
says...
2:05pm Sun 28 Mar 10
Thumper666
says...
11:07pm Mon 29 Mar 10
Comment now! Register or sign in below.
Log in with us
Fields marked with * are mandatory.
Or
Log in with