1 EAGLETON NOTES: The Hunting of Foxes

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Friday 19 June 2015

The Hunting of Foxes

The debate over whether fox hunting with dogs in the traditional way should be allowed to continue in a civilised society continues to baffle me. Kill foxes if one must but do it as humanely as possible.

The one argument that comes across time after time is that it is simply a necessity rather than a sport and that foxes are vermin to be controlled and that hunting in the traditional way is the most effective.

So why, I ask, were foxes introduced into Australia? The answer is specifically to provide sport.

Cruelty is one thing. Hypocrisy is hardly any better.

19 comments:

  1. I agree. They do need culling but not with poison, traps or dogs and certainly not by louts on horses. Driven shoots should also be made illegal. When it comes to hoorays then cruelty and hypocrisy are much the same thing.

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    1. On this one Adrian you and I have a substantial measure of agreement. I loathe fox hunting.

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  2. I would forbid this as a recreational sport as well. I'm don't like it either.

    Mersad
    Mersad Donko Photography

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  3. I have never seen a fox in Australia ~ so they just must not exist here :) same ~ we don't have wabbits in Queensland either because the built a wabbits-pwoof fence to keep them out and a sign that says "No Wabbits!"

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  4. We live in serious hunting country, and my feelings are ambivalent. On the one hand, the fox stands an excellent chance of getting away, and the kill is instantaneous (the antis would have it as being slow and painful). On the other hand, I don't really like the idea of causing any kind of suffering. But I think introducing foxes just to kill them, or digging them up when they've gone to ground, is obscene. My horse sharer hunts; I do not (though I have in the past). Whatever anyone may feel, hundreds of hours of parliamentary debate are not merited, when the ban was never going to work.

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    1. Frances the films I have seen of foxes being caught by hounds certainly didn't lead me to believe that the fox died an instant death. In any case I would suggest the chase - the quite unnecessary chase - is tantamount to torture and whilst some foxes may well survive it's hardly a pleasant or kind experience. Would you allow your cat, dog or your horse to be put though such an experience? I'm saddened that someone who holds your humanitarian views on certain things should be ambivalent on this topic.

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  5. The impression I get of English fox hunts from films and literature is that it's always something like two dozen humans + as many dogs (at least) against one poor fox; which always seemed very unfair indeed to me. I'm not sure my impressions are correct, though!

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  6. Fox hunting is also very tightly tied to tradition,

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    1. I suppose, Red, that could be said about many things: whaling and stoning females to death for adultery in some countries, for example.

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  7. In most cases, if dumb people would just leave nature alone, i.e., don't import foxes or wabbits (too funny, carolin!) and there would be no need to cull them. Unfortunately, it is too late for that. So, the next best thing is to do it humanely and don't make a sport of it. But what do I know? I live in the states where, it seems, the sport is killing people lately!!!

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    1. It is worse than importing foxes. The hunts people breed foxes or at least facilitate their breeding by creating artificial earths and feeding them so that they can be released prior to a jolly good hunt. I suspect they would hunt people here as well if they thought they could get away with it.

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  8. I don't believe in cruelty to animals....actually I just signed off on this same very story of fox culling adding my voice to thousands of others worldwide.

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    1. Virginia I was sure that you would not approve of fox hunting for sport.

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  9. We don't have fox hunts on horseback here but they are a terrible pest and used to have a bounty on them. Don't know if they still do but have my doubts. don't know what the answer is for a humane way to get rid of them but they take a huge toll on our wildlife.

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    1. Helsie I do accept that they need to be controlled and, in the case of some places were they were introduced and wreak such havoc, even eliminated but hunting them with hounds for sport I find anathema.

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