Hunting with dogs

[YODA]

Hi all

 

The practice of hunting with hounds / Fox hunting etc is up for vote in the UK parliament. There ere 3 possible outcomes...

 

1. Total ban

 

2. Licensing (i.e. The killing continues)

 

3. No change

 

Do you think the act of hunting an animal and then having it ripped to pieces by a pack of dogs is an effective & ethically correct practice?

 

 

[Blade13]

I dont mind using dogs for the hunt, but certainly not the kill. A lot of people I know train their dogs to scare the animal out of its hiding place so the humans can kill it, but the dog doesnt actually kill it. Im assuming that this kind of hunting is for pure sport and that no food comes from this. If that is so, then Im against it. I wont kill an animal unless it serves a purpose of food or is a danger, etc.

 

 

[Taikudo-ka]

Hmm

 

Well, I don't see any way you could justify hunting an animal for fun. (Or endangered animals for parts, furs)

 

On the other hand, I don't see how you could logically object to any hunting for food... that would almost have to constitute a right of any living creature, and is no worse than farming, really. Likewise use of furs, leathers, and so on from food animals is actually good conservation of resources.

 

Sometimes it can even be beneficial for the environment... hunting rabbits for food and furs in Australia would do the local flora and fauna a lot of good.

 

 

[YODA]

I'm talking about the "traditional" country sport, popular with the upper classes here, of dressing up in red, ridind a horse & hunting down a Fox until the dogs tear it to pieces. The usual excuse is that of pest control - the reality is that it's an outdated elitist game with no place in modern society. One of the UK's biggest hunts has even been exposed for rearing foxes especially for the hunt - pest control?

 

 

[Taikudo-ka]

Haha Yeah, I always thought they just released a pre-reared fox...

 

Pretty dodgy really, and totally cruel and wasteful.

 

Isn't there some ethical conflict with Prince Charles taking part in this sort of thing? Apart from being the future head of the Church of England, isn't he a patron of the RSPCA or something?

[Phantasmatic]

IMHO this is a touchy subject for me, I guess I would probably have it banned because there really is no use to killing an animal if you're not going to skin it for a blanket or eat it (those statements are meant for people who must do that to survive). Besides, who really eats foxes after dogs rip it to shreds! Again this is just an opinion.

 

 

[TKD_McGee]

In the states people use dogs to hunt cats and bears. No one is sadistic enough to let a pack of dogs tear up a bear or a cat. They scare them up a tree then shoot them. I have been on hunts doing this before myself.

 

But British Fox hunting on the other hand I know nothing about. I take it they hunt a fox down and let the dogs have their way with it. This is pretty crazy if you ask me. It is an ancient tradition however. Im suprized that there are any foxes in Great Britiain... or any animals for that matter..

 

Traditionally foxes were probabily hated pests as were wolfs in Great Britain. They probabily had the dogs tear them up because of all the damages that these animals caused to live stock or people. So I can see where it came from.

 

 

[SBN Doug]

Yeah, but don't the look spiffy in those jackets and helmets? Aren't they supposed to be able to still sip their tee while riding?

 

Seriously, I always thought they were using those dogs as wee do in the states, to just flush out the quarry. Then the hunters would get the fox. I'll never watch Marry Poppins the same again.

[Taikudo-ka]

Haha Has anyone seen Ali G, where, impersonating the ever smiling Khazakstani tourist, he severely takes the mickey out of a group of British fox hunters... getting them to agree that killing a little animal makes them feel like "real men" and stuff...

 

But then he does "do" the protesters nearby too... "yes, I love animals... in my country we love animals very much... yes, I see in Britian dogs with little coats, yes, very cute, in my country we like to dress up animals too, yes, and do you, you know, how you say, make them do a little dance... yes, no... I like to see them dance... you know, cute... if they dont... we just, ah, you know... how you say...ahhh... you know... with a stick... no??? ohh!" :weirdlook:

[ZeRo]

i live over here in england and i must say that im totally against fox hunting. infact after school to day there is a protest in the park. it FOR fox hunting!! im totally against it. i think we should get all the posh people how think there so uch better then us, release them butt naked in to the wild and have lion chase and kill them. i think this might simulate the same terror the foxes have.

 

the other thing is some people think it is pest control. well no it isnt some farmers do kill foxes but thats different there killed in humane ways. fox hunting should be banned.