Absolutely useless law (Foxhunting - is this sport?)

Member Name: johnnycarrotheid

Product:	Foxhunting - is this sport?
Date:	10/05/06 (81 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Saves very few foxes

Disadvantages: Largely ignored, too much time spent on it

This ban was, i believe the most idiotic ban put in force by the government.
Even when put in force in Scotland before going UK wide, it was shown that it was impossible to enforce.

How can the police follow horseriders and dogs ?
How can the police tell if the fox was killed before the dogs got it?
Why was there so much parliamentary debate, when the population largely didnt care?

Simply put, it doesnt work.
The hunters can still go out, and Hunt.
They are supposed to shoot the fox before the dogs catch it.
That would just simply be impossible for the police to prove otherwise, after the dogs got it and ripped it apart.
The hunters are supposed to shoot the fox, in actuality, they only have to "try" and shoot it.
As long as the police hear a gunshot they are happy.

To think of the hundreds of hours of time wasted by the government debating this just angers me.
Its as if they had nothing else to do so created a job for themselves.

I'm not on either side of the argument to be honest.
I live in a large country town outside Glasgow.
I do think it's not needed, but i dont see much point banning it.
Foxes do need controlled, that is a fact most animal rights campaigners ignore. They just think foxes are "cute wee furry animals"
Someone i know who has a farm, has sheep, and the foxes would prowl about in lambing season on the newborns.
Left unchecked they are bad for his farm and animals, so they need controlled.
Shooting is needed as an effective form of control.
Hunting with dogs isnt needed, but i doubt the foxes actually suffer more/a lot more than getting shot.

Police time will get wasted by this which is the biggest farce.
They already have far too much to do, and heaping this on them, is ridiculous. Especially since they are not equipped to deal with it for the most part. They cant follow over fields after the hunt, so theyr pretty useless at the hunt, but will now need to provide a presence.

I do see why the countryside feel theyr getting screwed however.
They use the most fuel, so the high tax is worse for them.
The farming industry in Britain is a joke. Competing against other countries that are highly subsidised, or getting extremely low prices for their produce from supermarkets.

Also look at the last ban they thought of, banning guns.
They only succedded in handguns. Look how successfull that was. It happened due to Dunblane, which was a police fault, for giving the madman a license (since they were overworked may i add). Legally held guns accounted for little to no illegal activities since the laws were so strict, but the Sun got a hold of it and sold a lot of newspapers on the back of public grief.
Due to these main points the country feel constantly persecuted.

Many people in the countryside may not even be bothered about fox hunting.
All these past issues helped create this into such a big incident, as it reinforces and combines the countryside together.

Summary: Absolutely pointless legislation, as usual.