Fox Hunting

I believe that fox-hunting is a cruel and barbaric sport that should be made illegal. It is uncivilised since animals get killed for pleasure. It is inhumane since they are not going to be eaten and are going to suffer terribly when they are killed.

The night before the hunt, the bloodhounds are not fed, and people are sent out to block-up holes that a fox could possibly enter. Then, the next day, the hunters would go to the fox hunt site (usually in a wood or forest) and let loose a fox that had been caught earlier on in the day. The hunters and the dogs set off to chase it in hot pursuit. These dogs may be rather slow, but they have a lot of stamina and so they can keep going for a long time. On the other hand, a fox can run incredibly fast, but cannot keep going for a long time. Eventually, the fox is caught and ripped apart viciously by the dogs. However, supporters of the hunt claim that the fox is instantly killed by having its neck broken by the lead hound. In my opinion, I believe that foxes are tortured before death, since I have seen a number of different photographs that portrays these bloody incidents and I have also read articles on the matter. The foxes are chased until they too tired to move, but are unable to find a hiding- place as all the holes have been blocked the night before the hunt.

For farmers, foxes are seen as pests. Therefore hunters argue that they are providing a service- keeping fox numbers down. Furthermore, they claim that if they did not go hunting, farmers themselves would feel obliged to control fox-numbers using more barbaric methods such as: gassing, shooting and snaring. Yet statistics show that only 1 in 200 lambs that die annually are killed by foxes, most are stillborn, or catch a variety of diseases. This shows that foxes are not as much of a pest as farmers believe, and so, there is no reason why they should be exterminated.

Supporters of fox-hunting believe that