Fox hunting

[Moog]

Can anyone explain to me how foxes will benefit if the government sucessfully bans hunting them?

[RogerK]

I'd be inclined to agree with you doolallygirl - if the shooting were carried out by responsible experienced people. My fear is that shotgun ownners such as myself will be tempted / requested to shoot foxes with unsuitable ammunition or from unsuitable ranges hence wounding the fox and causing lingering death from blood loss or infection. I know my limits, I don't carry cartridges suitable for fox and rarely get within the 15-20 yard acceptable range for them anyhow. That's why I refer people to an experienced bloke I know who has a proper rifle for the job. A lot of people won't show such concern for a quick kill though and I can also see snaring and poisoning on the increase which has knock-on implications for other species.

[Moog]

I reckon I'd have more of a chance of getting away form a bunch of toffs on horses with dogs than if they carried guns, like I say I reckon it's a form of unnatural selection

[saffstar]

...I think a fox's home is called an earth...

[secretspirit]

As others have said above the farmers will shoot the foxes but it's not for fun, it's because whatever precautions farmers take their poultry - that are worth precious little already - will still be killed by foxes that break into the pens and take away the farmer's livelihood. I don't agree with traditional fox hunting at all, and I do think it should be banned, but I think that as humane a shooting as possible is the best solution.

[RevShirls]

I don't really think that foxes cause so much harm. There may be a few that farmers do kill to protect chickens etc. Here in Sweden the Swedes love foxes. Sweden is a hunting nation - particularly in the north - but all hunters have to have special training and certificates. All that they hunt is used for food or for the furs - particularly in the north (near the North Pole) where fur still seems to be the most effective way of keeping warm when the temperaures are around minus 30C. I know the Elk hunters here have a very low opinion of the Tally-Ho Fox hunting brigade in Britain. Although a single dog is used to chase the Elk out into the open, no dog is allowed to maul/rip apart/kill the animal in a hunt. Each hunter has a limited number of elks they can kill each year. The hunters here seem to have a tremendous respect for the animal they kill. They seem a bit like the Native American Indians in this respect.

[RogerK]

I'd be all for training, certificates etc. for hunting, shooting or even fishing - it might weed out the few people who give the responsible folk a bad name.

[Geni]

For any hunters out there, please ask yourself; are we so cowardly and lazy that this 'sport' has to begin with the odds stacked against the foxes and, and the advantages piled on our side? It isn't even a fair chase, the foxes' dens are often filled in, and their escape rootes blocked, and they are outnumbered enormously by bigger, stronger animals. We do not lok for the fox, we pay men to go in with sticks and scare them out for us... and that's not all... Is this what the human race, the most intelligent animal on earth has accomplished - then we should be dissgusted in ourselves. P.S. Slimjim and robber1, please may i inform you that the correct name for a fox home is an earth, or if you can't remember that at least say den! I'm sorry to be a boffin, but it is bugging me. Thanx

[Milly Da Kid]

Something to do with over exuberant catterpillars encroaching on my train tracks.

[grimsv31]

Can anyone tell me how many foxes there are in the UK? And how many are killed by dogs as a result of fox-hunting?

[kelsey]

i think that hunting is wrong but i would rather have them dieing like thet then getting gased or shot as thet way they suffer more by dieind slowly. kelsey age 15