Why shouldn't we hunt foxes and other annoying animals?

Answer 1

We should hunt foxes to control them, they are a pest in the country. Most of the people who object think nothing of eating battery hen and farmed meat, where the cruelty is far greater but hidden from view. I respect vegetarians who do not eat meat and object to hunting, but the rest of people are complete hippocrites.

Answer 2

I have been out on hunts as a teenager. The first one by accident, as I was riding out my horse, it was great fun, galloping along. They didnt catch anything.

The second time I went out at a friend's invite, there was a chase, finally the fox went to ground. He had won the day...

Thats the end of the "SPORT" But oh no...lets dig it out..and let the terriers tear it to pieces right in front of the whole posse including little children. OK, now who wants to be bloodied..aahh that sweet little blonde girl on the pony.

I rode home with a heavy heart, feeling very naive about hunting, but relief that I would never go again, and would do my best to promote an anti hunting legislation.

Sport is a game, generally between two or more consenting adults.

If the Farmer etc has a problem with "vermin" then he should employ a single huntsman with a dog or two and a gun. That is the most effective hunting you can do. (Snipers in war)

Hours and hours of chasing an animal with braying blood thirsty hounds is barbaric. Especially as the amount of horses and hounds that get badley or fatally wounded is a lot higher than people realise.

I thought the UK was a land of animal lovers....perhaps that depend on the animal.

Answer 3

Since the hunting ban came through more foxes have been killed because they use shotgun, which makes the whole killing part of the hunt much easier.
No one should even think about using eagles on a hunt because that is a nice fast way of getting eagle hawking banned because idiots are getting hold of eagles, and accidents will happen if you haven't had the experience. And owls don't hunt foxes anyway.
I know people who have seen foxes, that are not out of breath, pausing and waiting for the hounds to catch up and then darting off again just to tease them.
And I have even heard of the hunt saboteurs association slashing dogs and horses with Stanly knives, many of the dogs had to be put down. And these are supposed animal lovers.

Answer 4

Jack R, I don't know which country you are from but I will give you my personal take on the subject.

I am in Australia where foxes were introduced (as were the rabbits) to give the gentry a bit of sport. Since then both animals have flourished and classed as vermin. Various plans to control/eradicate then have failed.
Foxes love lambing time, they will get into a flock of sheep and attack the lambs, just eating the tongues. Leaving the lambs to die a slow horrible death.
Foxes also kill anything else they can get to - chickens, native animals, mice yes and rabbits (but they like the little lambs better and the native animals)

Yes the fox is hunted with hounds and on horseback, but more often than not the fox is humanely shot when cornered by the hounds.

So, eventually I get to my answer. I cant see any reason why we shouldn't hunt foxes and rabbits. But I am in Australia.

Answer 5

OK - seems we have a bit of a problem. Here in the UK, we are no longer allowed to hunt foxes because the bleeding heart liberal do-gooders, who have never, ever lived in the country and only know about rural life from what they see on the telly and what other, similar people tell them.

Foxes have always been, and will always be, a perrenial pain in the ar$e for farmers and other land-owners/livestock rearers (eg Game woods etc) as they are a troublesome predator that needs to be controlled - this does not imply that they should be hunted to extiction.

This is just yet another example of a badly thought out and even more badly executed government reation to the whining animal rights twats who have no idea what they are on about.

If these people had ever been on a fox hunt, and experienced the primeval thrill of the hunt, and better still, realised that the hunts hardly ever catch a damn thing, then fine, we could have a proper debate, but oh no, the government are to quick to pander to the wants opf the city-dwelling troglodytes, because they are the people who will vote them in for the next election, not us, the country bumpkins.

As a countryman myself, I was angered about how the government handled it, and get very frustrated with "townies" who look down on our way of life. Now that we are not allowed to follow a centuries-old tradition, if I discover a fox that is persistently troubling livestock, or generally causing a nuisance, it gets "humanely controlled" with a rifle. If it's not causing problems, or is a vixen with cubs, or indeed is a cub itself, I leave it alone. It's a matter of being sensible and understanding your environment.

Answer 6

Are foxes really that annoying? I always thought they were kinda cool.
I object to fox hunting as a sport because it's unnecessary. OK,so if they're stealing the farmer's chickens he has to do something - fair enough, whip out a gun and shoot it if you must. But they're not exactly a plague on the country. They're a part of our natural history and pretty interesting if you read up on them. So there's no practical reason for hunting and killing them. Even if it were necessary to hunt them, a quick blast with a shotgun would do the trick - no need to use packs of dogs to exhaust, terrify and torture them in the manner we do. If we killed animals like that in our abbatoirs there'd be uproar.
Oh, yes - but it's part of our tradition and heritage. Well, so was cockfighting and bear baiting, but we grew out of it.

Answer 7

My personal opinion is that it is cruel. I am a city person and always have been so i don't pretend to understand the way the countryside works but speaking as a human being it just seems so cruel to send another animal out to hunt an animal for the enjoyment of humans. If these animals need to be kept under control then surely there is a more humane way to do this. I do not see how anyone can enjoy seeing an animal ripped apart by another then spread their blood all over themselves. i call it barbaric and I certainly would not allow one of my children to get involved. It screams of the dark ages and we are supposed to be evolving, not taking steps backwards.

Answer 8

By the same token, why should I not belt up the side of the head with the garden spade , annoying little twits who ask daft questions, are as thick as pig sh1t and selfish to boot. Hands up those who like the sound of my idea better that the OP's idea.
Personally as a poultry breeding country woman, I suppose I SHOULD want to eradicate foxes but I don't. If livestock get killed by a fox, it is the farmer's fault for not protecting his stock. I get hopping mad when pro hunters say that it is a case of townies wanting it outlawed and country folk wanting to hunt. Well I have never hunted in my life and in my youth was an avid hunt protestor/sabateur. I have never lived in a town in my life. I don't have a problem with culling surplus cockerels bred here since there aren't enough good homes for all the cockerels bred.They are killed instantly and are pain and fear free. I draw the line at killing any animal by means of a prolonged chase, to the point of exhaustion and terror and then being torn apart alive by a pack of hounds. If I chased my cockerels around or set my dogs to do it for an hour, before allowing them to kill it, I would rightly be prosecuted and possibly banned from keeping any animal again. Why is fox hunting any different. Hunting with hounds being banned was long overdue IMO. It is barbaric and outdated and such cruelty has no place in the 21st century. Dog fighting, badger baiting, **** fighting, bull and bear baiting were all outlawed a long time ago. How is it that hunting with hounds was only just outlawed? There has been enough evidence to prove that hunts, actually bred foxes to hunt and that those involved in hunting often were also involved in other animal cruelty. It was rightly banned and I'm glad to see that there have been prosecutions for those arrrogant enough to think that they are above the law.
Aquila, I don't believe you have ever seen a hunt. You are spouting pro hunting propoganda. Why on earth would a fox wait for the hounds to catch up and kill him? If he has stopped it is because he is too exhausted to go and wants to rest. That a fox isn't panting after being chased for half an hour is plain daft dear. They aren't super animals. If they run hard they will pant.
As for sabateurs slashing horses and dogs, once again this is propoganda. All sab's are total animal lovers, many are vegans. No way would they inflict pain on a horse or a hound. You have been listening to too many pro hunters. Did you also watch a fox which had gone to ground, being dug out of it's den and flung alive to the waiting hounds? Did you want 3 year old hounds being shot and fed back to the other hounds because they were too slow or weren't interested in hunting? Did you ever see very young fox cubs being chased during the cubbing season. Baby foxes, no more than puppies, being chased and killed? I could go on and on about the terrible cruelty involved in all aspects of hunting with hounds. It isn't just foxes, it is deer too and hares and rabbits. Those who say it isn't cruel must either be brainwashed or extremely stupid.

Answer 9

I think it would be much better to hunt the human vermin on our streets and make the world a better place for law abiding citizens. I would rather be over run with foxes than have half the scroungers and layabouts that reside in this so called "Great" Britain.
Up the foxes!

Answer 10

Hunting animals for food is one thing, but hunting them because they are annoying wouldn't be acceptable- If it were, I'd be the first to jump on the band wagon, and my target would be certain members of the human race. Most humans annoy me, nasty two legged creatures, and they stink. They can't even lick their own bottoms for crying out loud!

Reynard the fox

Answer 11

Why is it so hard to let things just live? If you hunt foxes and they become extinct, rodents and other creatures which are the diet of foxes will overpopulate and harm the ecological balance, which will in turn affect people. These will cause diseases and potentially cause death. A certain region from where I traveled to exterminated a lot of snakes and now rodents have exploded in their area, and believe me its' like the Bubonic Plague or Black Death all over again. We really need to think before we act.