NB Fox hunting will not be banned.

[scarlett]

It is not Fox Hunting that is to be banned but the use of dogs as pack animals to chase other animals. People can still chase foxes, deer or hares on horse or foot and kill them if they can catch them. People can still dress up in fancy clothes and socialise whilst mounted. What is the problem?

The dogs are the issue.

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[Alex_Blackwood]

So! If my sons dog chases nextdoor's cat can he end up with six months in the slammer?

Noticed a lot of dead foxes on the A3 yesterday, wondered if they had developed a false sense of security?

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[hlb]

So the new sport needs to be a load of folk in fancy dress on horses chaseing a pack of cars around. Looks much more effective!! Legal too.

<hr width=100% size=1> No one can force me to come here. I'm a volunteer!!.

Haydn

 

[tcm]

yep. Hunting with a pack of lions or wolves is fine. Or perhaps if all the dogs were bitches, that might be alright.

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[snowleopard]

it's more specific than that, it's not just chasing other animals. chasing rabbits and rats is OK. and the targets banned aren't just foxes but deer and, i think, hares. funny we don't hear about the last two in the protests, i imagine they would reduce sympathy for the hunters.

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[hlb]

Who's going to tell the dogs what to hunt for, what if they catch the wrong sort of animal??

<hr width=100% size=1> No one can force me to come here. I'm a volunteer!!.

Haydn

 

[Peppermint]

Re:My small pack

of hounds are out after squirrels as I write. Is that a problem? From the baying I'd think they've tree'd one.

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[Parsonsheath]

Re:My small pack

Right then, let's start with an ASBO for you, what about the hounds?? Torn between finding you an unfit owner and doing you for cruelty to your animals, or putting the hounds in care and sending them on anger management courses. There again, should you choose to shoot the squirrel we will have no direct evidence, and since you had not been formally cautioned before "publishing" your article we may have to let you off, just hope Animal Rights are not reading this!

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[Shakey]

Have stayed out of the hunting debate so far but I might as well have my two penn'orth.

I saw something on the TV a couple of years ago that summed it all up for me.

It was one of those reality police shows, and it had the view from a police helo. They could see two blokes with two dogs digging at the edge of a field near the local council estate. The dogs were obviously agitated.

So, off they send a couple of PCs to apprehend the council badger baiters.

But when they got there it wasn't a badger. It was a fox.

Plod is now in a quandry. They can't arrest them for hunting foxes.

However, the dogs have gotten scratches on their muzzles from where the fox has defended itself from its hole in the ground. So the two blokes off the council estate got fined for cruelty to animals (their dogs), banned from keeping animals for x number of years, and fined for criminal damage to the un-ploughed edge of the farmer's field.

I don't understand why the pink wearing huntsmen are not subjected to these laws.

<hr width=100% size=1>It could have been worse - it could have been me.

 

[halcyon]

Funny you say that, in the mid 80's I was doing 1,000/1,500 mile a week around the boat builders. One night coming home came accross a phone in on the radio, question was why do you not see dead foxes on the side of the road, thought that's right never saw a dead fox. Answer from expert was that it was open ground and the fox looked before crossing, thus saw the car and dived back.
Thought no more about it till 5/6 years later when I started to see dead foxes, usually 1 on the A30 /M5 in Devon. Over time the odd one became one every trip, then somedays I would see 2, by 96 I was seeing 3 every trip, traffic had not grown that much, wondered if fox hunting had been reduced, or were these town foxes?.
A couple years ago a report on radio listed approx 60% of foxes killed by road traffic, 4% by the hunt. If you assume that 1 in 4 survive the impact and limp away to die over the next few days, and 50% of foxes are not killed outright, then 7 times more foxes suffer from road traffic incidents than from the hunt.
Therefore it is more effective to ban road traffic.

Brian

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[mirabriani]

Heard this on the radio
It might be wrong but I think I recall that 60,000 foxes a year
are killed on the M25.
Makes a mockery of recent parliamentry action

Regards Briani

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[oldgit]

Stir it up Dept...What no mention of Red diesel.NM

How about Petrol vs Diesel.
Next....../forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

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[Shanty]

Does this mean hunting MPs with a pack of dogs is legal then?

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[snowleopard]

shedding a little light on the subject...

i've just read the relevant bit of the act (details <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200203/cmbills/010/03010.19-25.html#j02>here</A>).
it appears that a hunt can still take place if there are no more than 2 dogs in the pack, they are kept on a lead and the hunters eat the fox afterwards.

so what are they moaning about?

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[Bergman]

Err No

Rather makes a mockery of the argument that hunting is a means of controlling the population (of foxes)

Leave the horses and hounds at home and drive more.

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[halcyon]

Or how many fox's are there, to maintain that killing rate.
If there's that many what if some terrorist decided to infect them with rabis, could be a good ( depending on your side ) terror weapon.
Mind down our way, there all dying from fox mange, now if they what to see a fox suffer you see one that infected, fox hunting may be a more humain option.

Brian

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[Bergman]

Not wholly sure that your seriously defending fox hunting on the basis of their potential use as a terrorist weapon.

It would be a foolish terrorist who tried. Rabies is not infectious enough to be an effective bio-weapon.

However if Usama Binliner did try to do that of course hunting them with dogs would be just about the worst thing you could do. Infection from fox to hounds to huntsmen. The first action in the contingency plans for an outbreak of rabies is to stop all hunting and other use of dogs in the affected area.

Now if you want to consider that line of thought think about rats. Close contact with people, small enough to enter houses and food stores, ideal vector for spread of plague or similar disease, after all they've done it before.

Strangely enough I saw a fox the other night, not in a rural area but at the side of the A206 at Dartford, just sat there happily watching the traffic go by. Doubt he will need to worry about hunting.

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