Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

A bit harsh, imho - licking - yes; chewing, no thanks.......;)

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

Maybe, maybe not, coincidentally one of the jobs I have to do when our schools caretaker gets back is tell him that a fox got his 2 pet chickens, his hamster died to but he was expecting that, great holiday, shame most of his pets died whilst he was away, thank God his dog was safely locked up, the last dog I know of that got bitten by a fox had to be put down, three or four different diseases transmitted to it, including mange and a yeast infection IIRC

---------- Post added at 12:21 ---------- Previous post was at 12:20 ----------

At least I have an opinion worth sharing, still thanks for your contribution, it takes all sorts I guess

---------- Post added at 12:26 ---------- Previous post was at 12:21 ----------

How many stray dogs have you got round your neck of the woods? It's foxes and round here they are a massive problem, despite the best efforts of motorists to solve it. The rubbish is horrible and it's always foxes I see digging through it, plus I have seen several chasing cats and the final straw for me I think is when I saw one emerge from the under growth with a dead cat in it's mouth.

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

It is though a valid point.. A person would be in great distress by a pack of dogs attacking them yet others would happily do it to a fox.. Perhaps not though put in the best phrase by the poster ;)

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

Tell you what the day I come home with some ones cat or chicken in my mouth feel free to set your dog on me.

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

Well he's already put a policeman in hospital ;)

As I've said I'm all for humane killing of any pest as long as they are an actual pest in the area that they're being culled.

But chasing them round the country in all areas as what has become a sport isn't my idea of pest control..

(BTW..anyone watching whale wars as this is so similar an arguement :D )

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

Not to fussed tbh if people want to get a kick out of it I don't really care, there's far, far more important things to be worrying about

Are whale's a pest to anything other than plancton?

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

I'm of the opinion that creatures which become pests need to be controlled. That includes foxes in some areas and rats, for example, which few people seem to have too many misgivings about despatching.

Personally I'd rather see all such pest control done as humanely as reasonably possible and don't feel comfortable with the thought that people derive pleassure from it. However, nature subjects the animal kingdom to a myriad of grisly deaths in the natural course of things and it's possible to view human activity as just another.

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

But one point you haven't mentioned is that most deaths in nature which is one animal killing another is based on killing for food..

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

I'm not fussed either way about fox hunting (the unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible), but I do think that Big Brother is inhumane and a cruel and unusual torture process, so shouldn't we be banning that?

(and no, I don't watch it, but I have to leave the room when SWMBO and daughter watch it, as I cannot afford to replace the TV ;) ).

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

No I didn't, mainly because it doesn't make much difference to the dead animal whether it's killed for food or because it's a pest to us humans or, indeed, whether it suffers a long painful death as a result of simply getting ill or injured in the wild.

As I've said, I believe as much as possible should be done to ensure pest control is humane. I also believe that we need to control pests even though that status is not their fault, it's just nature conflicting with humanity.

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

There's no need for your urban fox to kill for food, it eats our rubbish + certain morons want to feed the bloody things and leave food out for them, if it was eating rats instead of cats it'd might be different and don't think I am some sort of massive cat fan, they decimated small bird populations for no real reason and poo all over peoples gardens, that said I'd prefer not to see one being chased to an unknown fate by a fox again.

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

I've never seen a cat run away from a Fox, the cats around here take no notice of them & if they do get a little close they just turn around, hiss at them they're off like a shot. Now the Cats & Foxes don't get too close to the Badgers though. I Have seen Foxes catch Rats.
As for them feeding on rubbish, who leaves the rubbish around for them? We do. It's our laziness that encourages so called 'pests' to become a problem.
Most natural predator populations are self regulating, they adjust to the food availability. I expect the human race (as a top predator) will soon have to adjust to food shortages as well in the not too distant future. As an aside, did anyone see on the news about the massive crop failures in the USA?

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

You know if you enter ''fox kills cat'' you get over a million hits on google, here's an interesting one. I drive around London most nights and this year I have seen foxes chasing cats 4 or 5 times, I'd never seen it before, the foxes seem a lot bolder these days to, many don't even bother running when I disturb them.

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

As mentioned in an earlier post by Osem, I too have no problem with foxes being dispatched in cases where they are a provable nuisance or a threat to health, but there is something insidious about a baying pack of dogs under the command of chinless wonders like Otis Ferry chasing down an animal in the name of sport.
In my opinion taking pleasure in killing an animal that isn't going to end up on the table is both perverted and sick.

Re: Bring Back Fox Hunting
 

it seems to me that fox hunting is the most inefficient way of controlling a pest anybody could have thought of
farmers and rural land owners say that foxes are a pest and need to be controlled ,i don't dispute that, but take into consideration that not every hunt gets a fox ,they are only held a couple of times a month,horses and dogs both get injured during a hunt, private property gets damaged ...not very efficient really is it and when was the last time (obviously before the ban)did a hunter say that he didn't really enjoy it they were doing it for the good of the countryside.I'm sorry but if a fox is that much of a nuisance then a much more humane and efficient method of control should be employed .In the mean time should ex fox hunters feel the urge to hunt something then they are quite welcome to dress up mount their horses and chase some rats which i believe are multiplying exponentially