MagiStream

We usually practice Fox-Chasing here in the USA, or really vermin-chasing of any sort.

ShadesOfWaves wrote:We usually practice Fox-Chasing here in the USA, or really vermin-chasing of any sort.

Could you elaborate? I have never heard of fox-chasing. What does it mean and where is this done?

I am definitly agaist fox hunting, i think is cruel and un humane. I you have got poultrey of anykind, get a better fence if you dont want them to be eaten by foxes. It is humans fault that foxes even go near our farms because we are taking away their habitat and along with it there food supply. I really hate even the idea of hunting foxes especially huntinv them for fun!

I, being an fox lover, don't really think fox hunts are great. There are much better ways to handle foxes than fox hunts. Humane ways of trapping and killing foxes are much better than having hounds kill foxes. I think that making hounds hunt foxes makes there prey drive much more heightened if they are trained to hunt foxes. What if one day the owner of the hound loses control on the dog and the dog kills a cat or other small pet?

Also, fox hunting feels sort of barbaric. I mean, hunting animals as a way of amusement? Yes, it has pros, but, like I said before, there are other solutions to foxes being a problem. Aren't we living in an age where animal protection is becoming more and more important? Fox hunting goes against it. All in all, I feel fox hunting isn't fair to the fox.

1.)Are you for or against fox hunting?
for for fox hunting as in killing foxes but against it as a sport

2.) Why are you for/against it?
I live on a farm and foxes if in the area kill the livestock

3.) Why would someone else disagree with you?
Because they love foxes but not the reality of how they'd live? In nicer words though, don't know how to phrase it

4.) How do you see foxes?
Cute but killers

5.) Do you own poultry or livestock?
yupdydoodah

6.) Anything else?
Fox hunting as a sport is horrible and cruel

1 & 2) Oddly enough against fox hunting despite living in farming country. Fox Hunting with horses and hounds is not as effective a pest control method as shooting or trapping, nor as quick or kind as the latter two. It also has the potential to disrupt or harm livestock if the fox tracks through a field with them. The arguments in favour of fox hunting were also made for otter hunting in the last century, but otter hunting with hounds has been illegal since 1978 and no one's clamouring to bring that back.

Drag hunting, using horses and hounds on a scent trail or with a human runner I have no problem with. It is much the same thing, but the trail can be laid away from areas where it would do harm, is safer for the horses, and the only thing missing is the kill (unless you count the aniseed-layer getting drowned in lick).

3) Because they enjoy foxhunting, riding, or the thrill and camaraderie of it (arguments advanced by the local hunt) or because it is a local tradition.
4) Foxes are just animals, and part of the ecology that need to be managed like everything else.
5) I don't currently own livestock.
6) Not really. Ecology management, particularly for conservation, is one thing, but killing in a protracted manner for sport seems wrong to me.

I for one very much disagree with fox-hunting. It may be a sport but it is not necessary. I've noticed the strange things about us humans is that many of us enjoy killing for no reason and we find it in a way pleasurable. If you aren't killing to survive do not do it. But, that is merely my opinion and everyone is entitled to their own, and in my opinion, fox-hunting is completely inhumane.

I would strongly dispute that shooting is a humane method of killing a fox, or any other wild, moving animal. People, even trained marksmen (which most country people aren't), just aren't good enough to guarantee a kill, which leaves the fox potentially with an injury which will fester, disable them, and lead to a painful lingering death. For evidence... army marksmen with all their fancy gear during the foot and mouth crisis in the UK in 2001, when thousands upon thousands of livestock were killed, couldn't manage to cleanly kill a stationary lamb at less than 30 paces. It took 5 shots in that particular instance, and it wasn't the only one. Shooting is not humane, and should not *ever* be seen as a suitable substitute for hunting with hounds, whatever you might think of the latter.

-If the fox numbers increased too much, there would be little room and food for them.

So let nature sort it out like it has forever and ever?

The problem is, a lot of the natural forces that might take care of the fox population are missing due to overhunting (ex. their larger predators...)


I think that traditional fox hunting using a real fox, not some form of decoy, is:
1. A sport for people who want to be able to boast about how wealthy they are
2. Extremely inefficient in terms of time, money, and labor for actual use as a population control method
3. People torturing an animal for amusement.

I don't think there's a valid reason to support it. As a control method, one guy (or gal) with one dog and an appropriate weapon, on foot, should be sufficient to find and eliminate individual foxes. You shouldn't need a whole foofaraw to accomplish a basic task. I suspect there are even less difficult and more humane methods, like setting baited live traps in likely spots that you check daily, that could replace that.