Fox Hunting - Good or Bad???? (Foxhunting - is this sport?)

Member Name: rockyou

Product:	Foxhunting - is this sport?
Date:	24/05/06 (560 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Controls Fox Populations

Disadvantages: Rather Barbaric

However people look at it, foxes are vermin. We have a den at the end of our garden and each year the foxes look fitter, healthier and stronger than the year before. This is because the population is on the increase and simply must be controlled.

I constantly have to treat my dog for ticks, fleas, and am always picking up rubbish from where they have ripped open or raided the bins. The most unpleasant think is of course doing the daily garden sweep to pick up all their poo before either my dogs rolls in it or I step in it. Overall foxes cause major problems in built up areas and also are good at waking up the neighborhood!

What a lot of people do not realize is that the foxes who go crazy and rip apart all the farmers’ chickens are normally old or ill and therefore can no longer hunt effectively, so end up going on a mad feeding frenzy. It is these animals that end up getting hunted down by the hounds. A young healthy fox will outrun the hounds no problem.

In light of the above, people could argue that hunting irradiates the sick animal’s thus protecting farmer’s livestock. I can tell you the sight of a chicken house after a visit from a frenzied fox is not pleasant.

I do not condone hunting but as an avid equestrian lover the thrill of galloping thought the country side and jumping four foot fences is a rather huge adrenalin rush. I have only ever taken part in mock hunting (no hounds).

It is only the riders in the front of the hunt who witness the kill. These people are very much established riders (have to be to keep up and stay on board) and the riders bringing up the rear see nothing, and are purely there for an exhilarating ride.
At the end of the day hounds are natural born hunters, that’s there purpose in life, and will hunt and chase pray with or without human assistance.

What really annoys me are all these so called animal activists who regually tug at horses reins and actually injure horses in the progress of trying to stop the hunt. How stupid is it to injure a horse when you are meant to be campaigning against animal cruelty!

Yes the way the hounds rip apart the foxes is pretty barbaric but you could argue that the way any pack animal hunts and rips apart pray is nasty. I have a Staffordshire Bull Terrier X Jack Russell who loves to chase rabbits - given half the chance she would kill one - this is in her nature, as it is in all animals, its called instinct. We as humans do not need to encourage animals to hunt, they do it naturally.

You could also then bring in the argument – is using terriers right to get rabbits from holes etc/?? The list goes on and on.

Summary: Not really a sport but fox population must be controlled