Originally Posted by Chris

It is population/pest control, yes. It is also sport, yes. Two different aims that are met by the same process. As for 'distress', well during the whole debate over the Act, 540 members of the Royal College of Vet Surgeons signed up to the statement that:

"Hunting with hounds is the natural and most humane way of controlling the population of all four quarry species" (the quarry species being mink, deer, fox and hare).

http://www.vet-wildlifemanagement.or...d=30&Itemid=32

... so, it seems, a lot of people who have expert knowledge of the subject disagree with you.

There you go with the anthropomorphism again. It's so ingrained in your approach to the subject that you don't even realise you're doing it. One animal cannot act with barbarity towards another. That is a moral judgement on behaviour that simply cannot apply.

For centuries, humans have harnessed and used properly trained animals for a wide variety of tasks. Using a dog to kill a fox is in no way different than using a dog to round up sheep..