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Foxhunting
Mounted fox hunting with hounds is the sport of people who enjoy a frantic horseback gallop across country. The object is to chase a fox tracked and pursued by a pack of hounds. The riders gain more enjoyment on a foxhunt than on an ordinary foxless gallop because the fox may lead them anywhere to escape the hounds - along valleys, across streams, through hedges and over fences. If the hounds catch the fox, they, the huntsman or his assistants, kill him. People hunt foxes in many ways but this manner of hunting is the kind the public most often associate with the term 'fox hunting'. Hunting with hounds stirs up widespread and angry controversy. Detractors say it is immoral to chase and kill animals for fun and sport. Supporters of fox hunting say they are helping farmers to control foxes. It seems as though an unbridgeable division between social classes and between town and country lifestyles obstructs a resolution of fox supporters with fox hunters. In Britain, for example, fox hunters are portrayed as wealthy, privileged or land-owning upper class. Fox supporters are depicted as lower class townies with no understanding of country life. But these are stereotypes and the opinions of most people fall somewhere in between.
The CharactersThe Huntsman The person who controls the hounds. He decides where to go and what to do, carries a hunting horn, and tries to stay with the pack of hounds as much as possible. The Mounted Field The mass of people (sometimes up to 50) galloping after the hounds and fox. These riders pay to take part in the hunt, may have little interest in hounds and foxes, but are interest in horses, galloping and socialising. The Hounds The dogs who run about to find and follow the scent left by a fox. A pack of hounds can number up to around 40 dogs. Some individuals are better than others at finding and following scent, so the combined talent of more hounds are better than few hounds. The hunt is contrived to last as long as possible by breeding hounds who are slower than foxes and superior in stamina. The Fox A hound towers above a fox, who is a lot smaller and roughly half the weight (about 6.5 kg / 14.5 lbs). A fox's scent lingers on the ground for some time, but a fox can make tracking it difficult for the hounds. He can take a course through odours that mask it, like running through a sheep flock or across ground with manure or mint. The fox gains time and distance from the hounds if they lose his scent and must find it again. The Whippers-In Two or three people who assist the huntsman by keeping the hounds together on the hunt, by rounding up stray or straggling hounds and by keeping a lookout for foxes. The Terriermen They block the entrances to earths (fox dens) the night before a hunt begins. Blocking forces all the foxes to lie up above ground on the day of the hunt. This makes it easier for the hounds to find them and prevents foxes seeking refuge during a chase. Terriermen also dig up foxes who somehow manage to find refuge below ground during a chase. They send down a terrier dog to corner the fox, then dig down to flush the fox into the open for the hunt to continue. Digging may take some time so the terriermen kill the fox if the hunt has moved on. The Followers The people who follow the hunt on foot or by car and may number several dozen. Anyone can follow a hunt for free or at nominal cost. Some followers are knowledgeable fox hunting enthusiasts and try to get in on the kill. The Main EventThe Socialising People, hounds and horses assemble for the hunt in the late morning at a pub, road junction or other suitable place. This is called the meet. After the socialising everyone moves off headed by the huntsman and hounds to find the scent of a fox. When not chasing foxes there are the coffee mornings, the annual hunt ball, a formal-dress party, and the annual point-to-point, a one-day race held in early summer. The Chase Once the hunters find a fox they pursue him for about 20 minutes on average and stop when the hounds lose the scent, or catch and kill the fox, or the fox hides somewhere and is dug up and killed by terriermen. The Kill If a fox cannot escape the hounds, they tear him apart. Before this happens the huntsman or an assistant try to save the fox to kill themselves. They cut off his tail as a souvenir. GlossaryAccounted for - euphemism for killing a fox; other euphemisms are bowled over, rolled over, brought to book, dealt with, and punished. Anti - derogatory name fox hunters use describing anyone against fox hunting. Bagman - a fox reared by the hunt, released from a bag or box, and chased should the hunt not find any wild foxes to hunt. Brush - a fox's tail. Chop - kill a fox before he has given the hunt a run. Covert - vegetation like woodland or a thicket where a fox may shelter. Cub hunting - the period of year when the hunt hunts fox cubs. Earth - a fox's den, especially below ground. Foil - anything that obliterates the fox's scent, like manure, a much used road or a stream. Give best - let the fox escape to be hunted another day. Gone to ground - a fox trying to hide in a refuge. Holla - a cry the hunters give when they sight a fox quarry. A hunt - an organised group of fox hunters meeting regularly. Hunt country - a hunt's territory recognised by other hunts. Inblood - hounds who have recently killed a fox. Jink - a sharp turn by a hunted fox to throw off pursuing hounds. Law - a head start the hunt gives a fox before chasing him. Mark - a place where a pursued fox is hiding. Mask - a fox's face or head. Mob - to surround a pursued fox before he can escape. Ringing - a fox running in a circle such as around the periphery of his territory. Riot - when the hounds hunt an animal other than the intended quarry. Scarlet - the red hunting coat worn by fox hunters (incorrectly called pinks). Tally ho - a cry hunters give when sighting a fox to chase.
StatisticsMounted fox hunts with dogs ride in Europe, Australia and the Americas. Several countries have fully or partially banned fox hunting with dogs. Fox hunting with dogs is now illegal in Britain by Act of Parliament (2003 in Scotland and 2004 in England). Fox Hunting With Dogs In Britain Fox hunting with hounds in Britain had been well established for over a century. Table 1 shows data for fox hunting with dogs in Britain in 2000.
Fox Mortality In Britain From Table 2 below you can see that people kill around 300,000 foxes each year in Britain, about equivalent to all the fox cubs born annually. Fox hunts kill about 20,000 foxes a year. Motorists, snare setters and shooters kill the great majority of foxes. Thus foxes suffer a high mortality rate and fox hunters are only one of their troubles.
Fox hunters claim they stop fox numbers becoming a plague. But highly cropped species tend to breed more prolifically than when they are left untouched. Foxes in Britain are highly cropped and breed prodigiously, so hunting them does not keep their population in check. Foxes survive in Britain because they are able to make up for their lost numbers by breeding large numbers of cubs. The natural life span of foxes is several years but their heavy death toll results in a very young population. Few foxes in Britain live beyond 18 months. MoralityFoxhunters ignore any rights that people might be willing to give foxes, such as a right to live a life and to live free from human interference. They withhold from foxes the right to live to an age they might otherwise achieve. Chasing and killing foxes for sport does not treat foxes with respect as sentient beings, as subjects of a life. Instead, fox hunters treat foxes as mere objects of instrumental value (value for what people can get out of them) and not as animals with intrinsic value (having value in themselves without reference to their use for humans). Fox hunting has hidden harmful offshoots that go beyond hunted foxes to the wider fox population to which fox hunters give no consideration. When one member of a mated fox pair is killed, the emotional bond that held them together is broken, surely resulting in the vulpine equivalent of the feeling of loss or grief in the surviving fox. Furthermore, the social relations of male-female pairs and families are constantly disrupted because individual members are continually killed. More broadly, when hunters kill a territory-holding fox, other foxes fight to claim the vacant position and neighbouring resident territory-holding foxes must skirmish to readjust their borders to accommodate the newcomer. All this is stressful for foxes. Given that fox hunting with hounds is a sport and that morally good sports respect other beings and do not harm them, the morality of hunting with hounds is in grave doubt at best.
For & Against: argue your caseFox Hunting is Good Sport
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