Foxhunting

            
             What is Fox Hunting? Is it a sport carried out by blood thirsty people who go out to watch a defenceless animal being ripped apart? Or is it a legitimate form of pest control using age old, tried and tested methods with minimal suffering? It is an emotive subject and the answers are not simple.
             The question is does the fox need to be controlled?.
             If the answer is yes, then what is the most humane way of killing the fox? .
             Ever since he began to keep farm animals, man has been in conflict with foxes and has had to control them. Many farmers lose livestock to foxes every year, so they take action to control them as foxes have no natural predators. Foxes are classed as agricultural pests and are allowed to be killed at anytime of the year, by any legal means. Every year 243,000 foxes are killed. 100,000 are shot by farmers and gamekeepers, 100,000 are snared by gamekeepers, 43,000 are killed by hunts and terrier men and a further 100,000 are killed on roads. Here are some explanations of the methods used to control fox numbers. You can also decide weather foxhunting is as cruel as some people say.
             Fox hunting, with hounds as a method, ensures the fox either dies or escapes. It may be tired, it may get scared, but it is rarely injured. It is usually killed within seconds after the lead hound breaks its neck. The hunt consists of two parts, the people who do the hunting and those that follow. The people that do the hunting are employed to run the organisation all year round; they look after the hounds at kennels and they feed the hounds. This is usually with livestock that has died or had to be put down from the farms that the hunt crosses. The hunt will also incinerate any dead animals preventing the farmer from having to bury the animal and possibly pollute any watercourses. The hunt looks after the hunt horses and breeds any hounds that are needed. These people liaise with farmers and landowner.