They're (finally) banning the Fox 'Hunt' in UK

[lefty_mcduff]

Good for them

http://www.guardian.co.uk/hunt/Story/0,2763,1305034,00.html

[meegbear]

1. Oh come now ...

who wouldn't want to hunt down Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity on horseback with dogs?

[frankly_fedup2]

11. What is the dancing prophylactics name???? (nt)

nt

[Blue Wally]

2. The unspeakable in pursuit of the unedible

[fugue]

3. About time!

When I was in Britain in 1986-87, I remember the conversation at a pub turning from one British group member's equestrian activities to specifically his fox-hunting activities. I tried to change the subject subtly, and finally said, "Could we please change the subject?"

One of my American "friends" kicked me under the table a second time. I turned to her and told her to stop kicking me, that there's nothing wrong with asking that. (She was furious. Apparently I was supposed to take being kicked in silence.)

"I've done it all my life," the Brit said. "I don't think I should have to apologize for it."

"I'm not asking you to apologize," I said. "I'm asking you to change the subject to something we can all enjoy talking about. In my family, we were all biology students so we discussed many things at the dinner table that we wouldn't discuss in general company. This is making me just as nauseous as those discussions would make you."

No good. Seeing that, to no surprise of mine, it was all about their feelings, I got up and left.

I'm glad to see that it's now not only OK to want not to talk about it; it's OK to keep them from doing it!

[theboss]

4. This is so stupid on so many levels

First of all, fox hunting is beyond dumb. I don't understand why anyone would want to do it.

But at what point, do we stop telling people how to live their lives when their actions have no impact on us? I can think of a lot of activities that I do that are beyond dumb. I don't want any government banning them either.

[sweetheart]

5. its unfinished class war business

Fox hunting means something different than it appears. To own
horses and dogs meant you were a wealthy person, and the land you
ride across belongs to poor(er) people. You can ride wherever you
want, chase your fox and screw the little people, who did not want
their fields and gardens dug up by horse hooves.

Oh, but we're doing you a big favour by ridding you of foxes. Thanks
but i can snare a fox myself big mr. landlord. You rich folks have
no respect... yadayadayada. The fox hunting thing is old old old
class warfare, and this labour government has been swayed.

Myself a libertarian, i agree that making laws about silly things
only divides a country and perverts the intent of law to be a public
good. To say that parliament and successive governments have been
arguing hotly to save a few foxes from death by dogs, seems a bit odd,
no? The hubub is class warfare, and foxes are just straw dogs.

I accept that in my silly activities, i have no right to cause pain
and suffering to innocent animals. Britain has a very developed
body of law for animal protection, and this is even being extended
to ban smacking children. Its the british version of the abortion
debate, having the government in your home deciding whether you can
whack little johnny for punching his sister. There, the law must
tread carefully, or soon we'll all have police surveillance cameras
in our houses making sure that no animals or kids are smacked.

[skjpm]

6. For those of you who are so nasty about Paul McCartney

This is in large part due to his efforts. He does a lot of good things.

[frankly_fedup2]

12. I don't know much about the subject; however, every time I have . . .

seen it on TV, the fox(s) are in a cage, and when they are ready, they let them out of the cage and give them a wee head start. There is no hunting about it. It's kinda of like those rich people that go to Africa and shoot a beautiful Animal that they are driven up to so they can come home with a trophy head.

I live in the south and deer hunting is big time around here. Well, there is a man in my county that owns a lot of land and breeds deers. The deers are use to being around people. See where I'm going with this?

Nascar (sp) is big around here too. I don't know why but people love to watch cars go in circles and hope for a crash. Anyway, some of these "famous" drivers like to rent some of this man's cabins and hunt for deer. They always get one. They think they are just good hunters. I think it is animal cruelty.

Also, in this state chicken fighting is legal too. My brother in law got into that and it is just plain cruel as well. I think chicken fighting is illegal in Mexico, but bull fighting isn't. I hate it all.

[shrike]

7. It's done here in the U.S.

At least it is in Michigan. They don't kill the fox, though, just chase the darn thing 'til it finds a hidey-hole. I'm told they also chase coyotes, which are becoming so numerous they have reached pest status in the U.S.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

8. Great way to recruit conservatives, people

How bout we fret over HUMAN life first?

A lot of biogeography research today indicates that traditional rural activities--hunting, small-scale farming, and ranching--are actually MORE beneficial to the environment than national-park-style, deep-ecofascist, roping it off so no one can use it. Elephant populations in Africa, for instance, go DOWN when herders are driven out of parklands.

I'm no friend of the English aristocracy, but the countryside they maintain looks a hell of a lot better than rural America these days. EU rules, slick packages designed for sale to misinformed environmentalists, are fixing to change all that....

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. There's no ecology involved in the arguments

The question is whether people should be allowed to use dogs to kill the foxes, or if they should shoot or trap them (they also use hounds to hunt deer and hares, which are not pests in the way foxes are).

If you're happy with cockfighting, then you should be happy with foxhunting.

Pro-hunting protestors have got into the House of Commons, causing it to be suspended (gosh, UK security gets better and better, doesn't it?)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3656524.stm

[skygazer]

10. No need for it really

I belonged to a hunt in New England but it was a drag hunt. Rather than hunt live fox, we "hunted" a scent bag that was dragged around by one of our members to make a trail for the hounds to follow. There are a lot of advantages to doing it that way - first and foremost, you're not chasing, tormenting and killing a fox. In addition, you can lay a trail which means it can be a safe trail so there's less chance of a horse or rider being injured. And also you can be assured that you're not going to trample all over someone else's property.

This turned a rather bloody activity into a really fun day of riding cross country with a pack of hounds and a bunch of friends. It was the riding and the cameraderie I liked - not the idea of killing a fox.