Hanson West (See "LSE:WHL") Share Discussion Threads

[azalea] 27/12/2002 22:12

No one with an honest heart can even begin to suggest that hunting an animal down until it is exhausted and then tearing it apart limb by limb is not cruel.

Hunting of foxes and any other animals needing to be culled should be despatched by licenced marksmen with rifles and telescopic sights, so there would be little chance of the animal not being killed outright. All other means should be outlawed. Besides, hunting with hounds is terribly inefficent anyway in terms of keeping numbers down.

I fully sympathise with the need to support the theme of hunting to hounds ( a magnificent pictorial sight) and the money it generates in the countryside - upkeep of horses, hounds etc. So why can it not be a drag hunt? I recall one fox hunter describing drag hunting as akin to kissing ones sister! Clearly, there was no thrill. What sad individual needs to inflict such pain in order to get a thrill; a candidate for Broadmoor perhaps? If they insist on a live hunt, why not get one of the hunt supporters to offer themselves to be the quarry covered in fox shins and smeared with fat etc. Perhaps some enterprising people could make a snuff film out of it; think of the money it would bring in!
Certainly a lot of hunt protesters would flock to buy such a film on the black market. After all, according to the hunters, it would be quick and painless experience. Presumeable the hounds are always efficient. Moreover, most of the hunt will have more chance of seeing and following their prey than any poor old fox and when they come upon the game volunteer in hopefully still recognisable form, they will gain the full impact from the kill! Tally ho.

I am against all cruelty to our animals and hunting one with another can never be rationally described as a sport. I cannot for the life of me come to grips with the mentality of arguably intelligent men and women wanting to inflict such pain on a defenceless animal. Would these same pro hunters wish to see their beloved lone labrador, etc, hunted to death by a pack of tigers? No of course they wouldn't. Fox hunting with hounds and similar sports should be confined to the past.

[zuke.] 27/12/2002 21:39

belabed; This largely true , as I said above , how can this be concidered a less cruel method .
If they are a pest , and like you , don't believe they are , and if they are who to ?

[belabed] 27/12/2002 21:35

The argument that it is good for the foxes to be hunted down and ripped to bits by hounds is frankly disgusting.
If there is a case for killing a fox(which I do not believe there is)surely shooting them would be more humane.It is all about the upper classes having a jolly good day out.

[zuke.] 27/12/2002 21:30

A class thing ??
No, it's a fox thing!

[flangefighter] 27/12/2002 21:28

I for one don`t have a problem with it.
Is it a class thing for you?

[zuke.] 27/12/2002 21:27

And , by-the-way,, can you describe to me please , just what a stressed fox looks like!

[zuke.] 27/12/2002 21:24

You concider as least cruel being torn to pieces by baying hounds ,!
You advocate selective execution of the un-fit and less-able , now where have I heard that before?
The ridiculas statement you make " much more to do with attacking the human participant and their customs,,"
Are you suggesting that the anti-hunting movement is really only an anti people and their customs movement !?
Can we at least try to agree on one point , hunting with hounds , for the people who particapate , has nothing to do with the control of fox numbers , is is merely a sport to them .

[jonfwec] 27/12/2002 20:57

Yes! many people can.

Of all methods used to control foxes since their natural predators had been exterminated by man hundreds of years ago, hunting with dogs is probably the most natural and least cruel. It helps foxes and indirectly farmers, by selecting the least fit and able, thereby enhancing the remaining stock. Farmers are helped because rabbits are becoming more adept at detecting and avoiding being eaten by foxes. As an aside, how would Zuke tackle that problem? I trust not by the re-introduction of Myxomatosis.

Does a fox look stressed when pausing to look back towards its noisy pursuers? Not at all. It is a part of life to which it has well adapted over thousands of years. The most important point is that at the end of the relatively short chase, the fox in either dead or very much alive. It is not left to linger a painful death as the result of eating poison, being wounded by a bullet or in agony in a trap as it attempts to bite off a leg in order to escape.

I suspect that the current anti-hunting movement has got much more to do with attacking the human participants and their uniform and customs, than with any genuine concern for the welfare of the hunted fox. This opinion is strengthened by there being little talk of the alternative methods of controlling fox numbers.

My remarks are concerned solely with the hunting of carnivores; deer being herbivore are a different matter altogether about which I have scant knowledge.

[zuke.] 27/12/2002 20:18

Can anybody make a resonable case in favour of Hunting with hounds , foxes , dear etc .
I myself can not in my wildest imagination think of on good reason to allow this barbaric and blood thirsty "SPORT " to carry one , unless I missing something!?