Should hunting with dogs have been banned????

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Do you think hunting with dogs should have been banned in Britain? I can see both sides to the story with this one, I can see how cruel and outdated people think it is, but I can also see the side of the people who's lives revolved around hunting, the jobs involved that were lost to the ban etc.

Whatcha think?

I think it should not have been banned.

Yes but foxes are vermin and should still be controlled.
Dog fighting and badger baiting are also 'sports' that were banned and that people made money from.
The handgun ban also destroyed a sport and ruined peoples livelihoods.

I'm glad they banned it. I accept (reluctantly) that because of the artificial world we now live in, fox populations are going to need controlling sometimes, but in these enlightened days there has got to be a more humane way of doing it than chasing the poor little terrified s*d with hounds and horses until it's exhausted; more often than not the dogs do get there first, and I can't believe that's a very quick or painless end.

I don't think the employment argument is a sufficiently strong one for the continuation of such an outdated, unpleasant, inefficient method of "pest" control.

I agree with this. One could just as easily argue for the preservation of ancient sports such as dog fighting, bear baiting, cock fighting, etc.

I can also see it from a different point of view, having lived in a rural area where people used dogs to hunt animals that would feed their famillies through the winter, when most people could barely afford to heat their homes.

My impression is that fox hunting is a hobby that does not involve eating the fox in order to survive a time of financial hardship, but I don't know enough about it to form a solid opinion.

Absolutely not.

I used to hunt a few days a year but don't now that I have less time to keep my horse fit enough. I used to work my lurchers, too (rabbits, hares and foxes) but one died a couple of years ago and the other is now blind. When I get a younger dog again I will go out rabbitting, though.

The hunting ban was the biggest waste of parliamentary time ever.

It has done nothing for fox/hare/deer welfare as these animals have to be controlled in the agricultural environment and the only means of control now is shooting/trapping/poisoning. Whereas hunting would take out the older or infirm animals (younger fitter animals will get away), shooting is indiscriminate. The gunman has little time to assess whether the animal in his sights is old, young, healthy or infirm before he pulls the trigger.

The hunting ban was Tony Blair pandering to the townie vote and nothing more. Labour have had it in for the countryside and farmers since 1997.

Hunting dog is used differently in different parts of the world. You did say Britain, you didn't say which type.

yes,did want the ban,am think fox hunting with dogs is outdated,cruel and pointless,if foxes have to be controlled because they say are too many of them,why not do the same with humans to? what makes even the worst/nastiest humans [such as murderers] superior to innocent foxes?

foxes are not vermin,they are only trying to exist like humans are,except they don't have the skills to make such a complex community,they don't have the awareness that they might be carrying germs and diseases either,unlike a lot of humans who knowingly spread it,whether it's colds,flu or aids.

if control is really needed,get some trained shooters out there,there should be humane rights for all,not just for one species.

Foxes won't break cover and present themselves to guns. It's not practical of safe to hack your way thru' cover with a loaded gun trying to find a fox. Nor is it a good idea to run crosscountry chasing a fox, with a shotgun. If it's ok for a fox to chase and kill a rabbit, why shouldn't my dogs?

who is hunting with dogs?
i dunno but kosmo should never have been banned.

There's a lot of it about today...But getting back on my high horse- I think the ban was primarily an act of class warfare to keep the left wing of the labour party happy while Tony Blair out Thatchered Thatcher. Oh dear, I seen to have turned into an old Tory. Better dig out that old copy of Das Kapital and buy a poster of Che.

I think hunting should be banned alltogether. I consider it not sports but barbarism. If they use a dog or whatever: hunting should be banned alltogether as quickly as possible. What civilised finds it fun to go killing innocent harmless animals? Should be banned, and I have to admit I am tempted to even call for very serious sentences for all involved in hunting, IMO they are guilty of murder. Animals or not, it remains murder and there are laws against animal abuse AFAIK...

In Kazakhstan we like to shoot dog.

Yes it should be banned, It's horrible and cruel!

I didnt know you were talking about fox hunts... i thought you were talking fowl. I know that bird dogs are trained to flush out birds, point to the shot bird, and or retrieve it. This is pretty professional work for a dog. I dont know, is there a special training for fox hunting dogs or is it 'get to the fox before the dogs destroy it' ?

Modern foxhounds are total professionals, too. There are hundreds of years worth of selective breeding which make up today's foxhound, giving them the ability to hunt as a pack, following a scent under the command of two or three men on horses. Hounds live as a pack (b*****s separated from dogs) in kennels and are exercised altogether with the huntsman and whipper-in on horses or bikes every day.

Before the ban pretty much the whole pack would hunt together two or three days a week over. Hunts cover a large area and hunt in different parts of their 'country' on different days. For example you have 'Tuesday country' or 'Saturday country'. Gamekeepers and farmers would advise the Master of Foxhounds about fox activity on their farm and different farms would host the 'meet' when the horses and riders gather with hunt staff and hounds before the 'off'. Farmers welcome the hunt on their land, depsite the damage that 20 to 100 following riders can do when galloping on turf, because they need them to control fox numbers, the hunt staff would repair fences and hang gates by the next day, and hunting is a major part of the rural social calendar.

Post ban the hunts are limited to how many hounds they can take out and hunting has been euphemistically renamed 'hound exercise'. Since the ban hunting has had a resurgence in popularity - people who hunted occasionally before the ban now turn out more regularly to show their support, and during the last legal hunting season, more people hunted for the first time than in previous seasons. Hunts have been trying to retrain foxhounds to flush out foxes for the the guns (some hunts use a bird of prey, too) but it's hard to overrule hundreds of years of genetic instinct. The animal welfare organisations in the UK thought that foxhounds could be retrained as house-dogs after the hunting ban and had to think again.

And anyone who thinks that foxes are cute, innocent and harmless wee creatures should see the devastation one fox will leave behind in a henhouse - twice I have found all six of my hens with their heads ripped off. I wouldn't have minded too much if the fox had taken one for his supper but they have an awful lust for killing once they get started. Lambs too are killed indiscriminately and God knows it's hard enough for sheep farmers to make a living. Fox numbers in towns are also increasing and townies are finding pet rabbits killed in outdoor hutches, or their cats missing. My vet has remarked on an increase in sarcoptic mange among pet dogs - mange is spread by infected foxes and is highly contagious for all other mammals, including us.

One final thought.... at least while there was a strong interest in fox-hunting in the countryside, there would always be healthy foxes, and copses, hedgerows, woods etc would be managed to ensure they had ideal living environments. For everyone who enjoys the British countryside, it wouldn't look like the green and pleasant land it is today, chequered with fields and woods, without foxhunting and also game shooting.

Crackedpleasures - calling people like me a murderer because I hunt is naive and offensive. Objectively learn more about hunting (without letting sentiment get in the way) before you start name-calling. Your post shines with ignorance.