I have no particularly strong feelings about hunting foxes. I compare it to falconry where man oversees predator and prey but does not commit the kind of enclosed atrocities seen in bullfighting, dog fighting, bear baiting et al. In other words - man tags along and attaches himself to what I view as 'nature in action'.That people might take a totally different view to me is entirely fine provided that it is not based on some kind of anthropomorphic, bunny-hugging, dewy-eyed wimpishness which believes that lions should become vegetarian and similar nonsense - or based on pure malice, of course.
Largely, I see foxhunting as nothing to do with me. I adore animals and hate cruelty - being nature, this barely registers on my scale.
Let us consider the hunting opponents, however. Some are honest in their thinking that the 'sport' is indeed genuinely cruel and make a reasoned, albeit rather weak argument against it, however these are the minority. So, who are the anti-hunt lobby?
1] The uninformed; those who fail to see that control of this vicious and indiscriminate predator is 100% necessary.
2] The uninformed; those who fail to take into account that foxes will still be killed, the question being whether they will be gassed, trapped or shot - and shooting often leaves wounded animals to die a terrible, lingering death.
3] The uninformed; those who react emotionally to carefully chosen film clips of dog packs tearing a fox to pieces, failing to take into account that this is long after the fox is dead. The 'lead' hound kills the fox very quickly.
4] The 'uninformed' who do not believe that hunting creates significant employment.
5] The 'uninformed' who think that 'hunting is a rich man's sport' when hunt followers come from every level of society.
The 'uninformed' would perhaps think differently if they knew more - maybe not.
They are not my target today.
My targets are:
1] The hypocrites who attack foxhunting with a selective venom which is carefully concealed if talking about the genuine cruelty in kosher and halal slaughter.
2] All politicians who jettisoned the findings of the government sponsored Burns Report which concluded that killing foxes by hunting was not any more or less cruel than the alternative methods employed and especially
3] The nasty, embittered, spiteful left who view a foxhunting ban as an ideal way 'to have a go at the toffs'; people who would not give hunting another thought were it 'a purely working class activity'.
Remember too that foxhunting is about CONTROL and management and NOT about extermination.
Me? It doesn't affect me at all but I do hate to see the petty-minded, the spiteful, the uninformed and the wet prevail.
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