Do you think fox hunting is good or bad?

Question

Do you think fox hunting is good or bad?

Answer 1

i think it's bad, i don't is the pleasure in hunting animals for sport and it must suck for the fox.

Answer 2

Ya know.  Here in the states where I live.  They dont even chase real foxes anymore?   A man goes out with a motor bike, and drags a scent lure behind him.  There are few hunts that still have the open ground, land rights and wilderness around them to support foxes, and chasing them isnt  easy when you cant just go thru a development like the fox can.

But yet.  PETA and other freaks still show up to the blessings of the hounds before a hunt and protest.. So apprently the life of a cotton bag filled with lure scent is in need of protection from the cruel fox hunters, and the evil dogs.  Even seen them throw blood on fox hunters and hounds a time or two.  Whats with that?  Get a life,  Its a LURE

Answer 3

bad regardless of what the hunting fraternity say its still wrong, like dog and bull fighting , and badger and bull baiting, should not happen.

Answer 4

very bad, play computer games if you want to have the feeling of killing something, or go and buy a punch bad if you want to relise anger...

Answer 5

I have never been fox hunting, but I enjoy all types of hunting.  There is nothing better than a day in the field.  Hunting helps control the populations of animals.  It also helps protect livestock.  Not to mention it is really fun.

Answer 6

Starlight: THANK YOU for actually having and educated response to this question instead of just saying "don't hurt the poor little foxes."  It drives me crazy when people have to get on their soapboxes about something they know nothing about, or know only a small bit about, but then think that's the whole story.

Answer 7

Fox hunting is wrong for pleasure, I don't see how running an animal till it cant walk, then have the hounds rip to pieces a fun Sunday afternoon ride. Now of course I know that back then they started this because foxes were numerous and loved to eat those slow moving chickens, but now their numbers are running short. I just can't see why they don't do a Drag hunt. Same thing, just that you make the course and have as many obstacles as you want and never have to worry about dead ends in the trail and back tracking 20 mins and loosing the hunt altogether. Its an ongoing battle, I like to think of both sides before giving my opinion.

Answer 8

left unchecked the foxes could destroy other species, in the uk i think the only predator to a fox is man and his beagle, well until fox hunting was outlawed anyways.   what would u say about wee foxxies if they wiped out the poor ickle bunnies?  man has already destroyed the natural balance of nature in the uk so we need to now control it so it doesnt destroy its self.  also all u people that eat battery chicks and intensive reared piggies dont  u think its a bit hypocritical to say fox hunting is bad whilst chompin on ur KFC????

Answer 9

Of course it's bad, there is NO justification for chasing, torturing and ultimatley killing a defenceless animal. It's totally barbaric.

Answer 10

It is rather like Bull fighting, neither the fox nor the bull have a chance of survival. They are condemned to certain death, strange,because the majority of the people that partake in these barbaric sports put themselves up to be honest upstanding "Pillars" of the community

Answer 11

I think there are pros and cons to fox hunting just like everything else. Fox hunting is important to farmers because foxes can kill his livestock. Without foxhunting farmers would have to resort to crueler ways of killing foxes such as setting down traps which can cause a slow and painful death. Fox hunting. I can understand people saying its a cruel sport. However it is usually only the older foxes that are killed as the youngest are too quick also hounds have had to be put down because they no longer have any use. It might be cruel but there are crueler and less humane ways of killing foxes which farmers have to resort to now because of the ban. I don't think that many people consider all of this they just think about the poor animal and not the damage that the 'poor animal can cause'.

Answer 12

I think fox hunting for fun is bad. The only time i'd hunt or fish, is when I need food. I'd use most of the animal, and not waste it.

Answer 13

Man, only a few people have made educated answers about fox hunting and hunting in general.

Well, first off, PEOPLE DON'T KILL THE LITTLE FOXES ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANKS TO PETA, IT'S NOW ILLEAGAL TO FOX HUNT!!!!!!!! Now, people just go Fox Chasing and they chase after a scent or they let the fox go!

And there is nothing wrong with hunting in general! What did  the cavepeoples do for food? They hunted! They hunted horses too! (Gasp!)

Also, the fox does not have any natural predators, except for Goodyear and Man. So these animals reproduce rapidly in the abscense of predators and then there are too many for the ecosystem to hold and thus the resource available to them decrease and then many of them starve to death!! The same thing with deer, they overpopulate the area and starve to death either because there are no resources or because they eat so much that their teeth grind down to nothing and they starve to death.

As I see it, we have two options, would you rather have foxes and deer or anything else that gets hunted be killed quickly and with little pain, or would you rather have them die slowly and painfully over a long period of time? I'd rather have them be killed quickly. For all of those people who believe that hunting is terrible, maybe you should realize that you are starving these animals to death!!!

Sorry if I'm a bit harsh but I find it childish that only a few people have given answers with good reasoning!

Answer 14

Fox hunting is a way of life and is not as barbaric as some of the other options for controlling them, such as trapping and being shot and wounded but not killed. hunting Fox's with hounds is a very effective way of culling out the old and sick. although it looks barbaric at times when you see the fox being caught by hounds they are killed almost instantly by the first hound with one quick shake. i am sure this debate will go on for a long time but alot of people are miss informed of the facts, and i bet more foxes have died since hunting has been banned through shooting ect than the hunt ever killed.

Answer 15

If fox-hunting is in order to eliminate foxes why have hunts been caught on camera providing earths for them to live in and feeding them?..... because if there were no foxes, they would have nothing to chase for "sport".

I have known several farmers (2 kept chickens and 1 kept sheep) who were anti-hunting... as one of the said "the b****y hunt does far more damage than any fox does". If a fox was taking his chickens he would shoot it... but not that many of them actually do... they tend to eat much smaller animals.

I have also seen horrendous damage done to horses who are hunted. Not all riders treat their horses badly but there is a certain hunting type who is happy to jump barbed wire or jump a hedge without checking what is the other side (farmyard machinery and yes the horse was shot). I have also known 2 hunters which were in such poor condition (skin and bone with sores on their hips) that the mega-rich owner was cautioned by the RSPCA.

No I am not sentimental and realise that the fox is a predator that sometimes needs to be controlled. But I am anti fox-hunting!

Answer 16

Well, "blood sport" has fallen out of favor, and that's not a bad thing.

But, ask a person who depends upon their chickens for eggs and meat if foxes are a problem and you'd get a different perspective.

So I'd have to say both...killing for pure sport is not something I could approve, but in my opinion, not the same as hunting for food or to protect livestock.

Answer 17

bad! how can you kill those cute little animals....

they'res so gorgeous....in my opnion.

i really dont find any reason that people should

hunt animals.....

the only animals we should kill are the ones

we eat....

i hate it when people kill animals just for the

thrill of killing, makes them seem like

death hungry murderers.

Answer 18

ok, no one bite my head off on this but i go hunting. Have done so for many years. My horses really enjoy a day out on open moorland, although i think the chasing etc, when they had a 'pack' of hounds was cruel, you must realise that the ban has actually benefited the hunting community. Those are just my views. As a sport i think its cruel, but there are peoples livelihoods at stake.

Answer 19

Bad. I live in cornwall as well, and I really hate it when people criticise antis by saying they don't understand the country ways. That's  rubbish. Just because you are part of a country tradition does not mean that you own the country and make it's decisions. There may be a big bunch of country people down here who like it, but an equally large, or even larger bunch of people who don't.

I think fox hunting is completely unnecessary. Foxes have more right to this land than a bunch of selectively bred mutant farm animals which people claim they're 'protecting'. Foxes are innocent wild animals, native to this country and important for our eco system- what about them helping to 'control' rabbits which can damage crops? Foxes are a native predator, they have every right to kill to feed themselves on this land. They do not understand what a farm is or what a pet animal is, they just see food and so act instinctively and I feel it is more our right to protect our animals properly than to kill the fox. They are not just vermin. Rabbits on the other hand are non-native, and could be classed as vermin due to their numbers and the damage they cause.  Foxes control their own numbers, and if they did get 'out of control' in any way you could just shoot them, rather than chasing them for 20 miles until they're so stressed and exhausted they give up and get ripped apart. The 'culture' of the hunt that supporters bang on about doesn't really constitute a good reason not to ban it to me. That's like saying people who attend dog fights have a 'culture' among themselves, but what they're doing is cruel, and unable to stop themselves someone else must do it for them. I don't care if the hunters really are posh 'toffs' or not in real life, but what the whole hunt thing where they parade around is just pompous and self important. What have they got to be proud of?

Lastly the other excuses people come up with such as what to do with the people put out of jobs, and all the dogs are pretty flimsy in the long run. Dogs can be looked after by the owners for the rest of their years without being bred, and then they'll be gone. Dogs only live about 15 years usually. A few hundred people out of jobs is no different to when a factory is shut down. The law has to change sometimes, your 'culture' has f-all to do with it, if what you're doing is evil.

Answer 20

it depends on where it is. in the uk foxes are much more abundant than here in the us and have been considered more as pest kind of like raccoons or opossums here. most hunt clubs here in the us foxhunt for sport and not to kill the fox or coyote. of course some hunt clubs don't follow those rules and occasionally the fox is killed but it has developed into having great brave horses and excellent hounds instead of actually killing what you're hunting. i personally think fox hunting is a blast but i don't like it at all when something is killed. i'm not sure about the uk as i have never hunted there but i think instead of banning it completely, restrictions could be set up that protect the animals and save the sport.

Answer 21

I think its a sick disgusting and cruel "sport". If someone saw a person chasing and torturing a dog on the street it would be stopped straight away and classed as cruelty - but yet its quite acceptable to terrorise foxes via loads of dogs and horses. Its disgusting.

xx

Answer 22

BADBADBADBADBAD.   why kill such an innocent and beautiful creature? They are chased mercifully and then when they have no energy left are ripped to pieces. It makes me want to cry just thinking about it.

Why  not just mock hunt? Just as fun

Answer 23

Bad not just for the fox but I've seen many horses injured and ruined in hunts.  I know of a horses that have been galloped down down a duel-carriageway, unfit horses taken on hunts, horses who have fallen over the fences and who have been completely broken down.  I'm not saying that horses may not enjoy the thrill of being out with the hounds and other horses but we must ensure their safety.  I'm sure there are many who hunt out there who do look after their horses at all costs though.

Answer 24

Foxes aren't hunted nowadays (not near me, anyway) - they use fox urine for the hounds to chase.  In that case, I think it's fine and it looks like a ton of fun.

Answer 25

How many people who just wrote that fox hunting is bad have  actually  gone fox hunting. I personally go hunting twice or three times a week. I live in ireland where we can still kill the foxes. I would say 60-70% of the time we don't even catch the fox.

But killing foxes here is important to help the farmers who depend on lambs or chickens as a living.

Here we used to have a few chickens. We had 10, all our chickens were eventually killed by foxes.

Killing them is not cruel. It is part of the circle of life!

For thousands of years we have been hunters and animals have been the prey. Why change that now because people are becoming more ignorant towards the whole thing.

Even though in england its banned alot of english people are coming over here to hunt. By banning it in england you have made a problem worse(you now have more foxes) but people are still getting to hunt!!

Answer 26

Fox hunting only happened from november to february, four months, this means that no cubs are killed only sick and very old foxes who are probably in pain or who have mange, which can be passed on to dogs and humans not very nice. I was in favour of hunting as foxes have killed lots of my fowl, i have lost cats too, i think it should have continued perhaps there would not be so many urban foxes now.

Answer 27

i think hunting in general as a sport is just wrong! whats the point, its just cruel and a waste of an animals life, fair enough hunt if you need the food as long as itds humainly and isnt just for the sake of it. why not hit a target board or a flying disc or something instead of an innocent animal?

Answer 28

ITS EVIL!!! EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL EVIL!!! people who fox hunt deserve to be hunted themselves! Why don't people have any respect for animals anymore!?

Answer 29

it's bad..

they regard it as a sport!!!!

Killing something as a sport is just wrong

How would they like it if the foxes turned around and chased them with guns and dogs that have been trained to kill and rip them to shredds...

Answer 30

Obviously this question is intended to only provoke argument from both sides.  It's a class issue; it's always always about "snobs in red coats".

Fox hunting is essential.  The fox population has rocketed, they are vermin, livestock and crops have been destroyed, foxes have killed pets and seriously injured children in their own homes and gardens - yet there is still an outcry from the ignorant about the poor wee foxy.  What about the poor wee bunnies, the poor wee hens, and the poor wee lambs that the fox kills?  A fox does not kill once for food; if it gets through a fence it will kill every animal it finds.  It may eat one hen, but it will maim (and leave behind) another 25.  And then it'll be back the following night for more.

Hunting is the most humane way of controlling the population.  Shooting and snaring can injure the fox and have it die slowly and painfully - sometimes over the course of a few days.  Don't know about you, but I'd prefer to have my neck broken quickly than slowly bleed or starve to death in a snare.

Proposing drag hunting as an alternative is further proof of ignorance; drag hunting does not (and cannot) control pest population.

Answer 31

Bad!

Its wrong and cruel and should be banned.

What right do the snobs think they have to set dogs onto a poor creature.

How is it fun to watch another animal tear and rip apart another animal.

It should be done to them to see how they like it