Irish Indo supporting animal cruelty

Captain Darling

Dionysus wrote: »

There are other legal acts of savagery in the countryside still, "beating" pheasants being the one which I remember most. Local lads would be paid for the day to run through forests frightening and goading all the birds and then when the pheasants would fly out unspeakable people who paid €800 for the day's "hunting" would shoot them. What an extraordinarily challenging "sport", that never seems to make it to newspapers.

I've been beaten off in a bush quite a few times and i actually enjoyed it rather muchly.

SisterAnn

Britain's loss in this is Ireland's gain. We get a lot of folk coming over for hunts. Badly needed €€€ for us.

New Labour's crazy move there was easily pushed through by a relatively large urban population with a poor understanding of country sports.

I could never see a Garda squad car hassling a hunt here. We'll always have this fine winter tradition. It is a glorious thing to see. There are no 'toffs' in my local hunt. They are farming folk largely and love horses.

Dionysus

SisterAnn wrote: »

Dear right-on, vegetarian, liberal lefty Citydwellers,

If we country folk ever become absolutely clueless and need to resort to someone else to tell us what to do and how to live our lives, we promise to to give you first option. Until then, we'll thank you to leave us be.

Kind regards,
Your country cousins.

Perhaps you have statistics on support for hunting in rural Ireland? The way you're talking, you'd think most people in the countryside support this barbarism. There's a certain type of person in rural Ireland, and a certain type of daytripper from the city, who engages in this savagery, and they are a tiny minority.

There are other legal acts of savagery in the countryside still, "beating" pheasants being the one which I remember most. Local lads would be paid for the day to run through forests frightening and goading all the birds and then when the pheasants would fly out in terror unspeakable people who paid €800 for the day's "hunting" would shoot them. What an extraordinarily challenging "sport", that never seems to make it to newspapers.

ItsAWindUp

SisterAnn wrote: »

Britain's loss in this is Ireland's gain. We get a lot of folk coming over for hunts. Badly needed €€€ for us.

New Labour's crazy move there was easily pushed through by a relatively large urban population with a poor understanding of country sports.

I could never see a Garda squad car hassling a hunt here. We'll always have this fine winter tradition. It is a glorious thing to see. There are no 'toffs' in my local hunt. They are farming folk largely and love horses.

I'd love to see civilians hassling a hunt, someday maybe a might do it myself. Again, you insist on making this an issue of urban vs countryside when it really isn't one. Tell me, do you have some sort of inferiority complex or chip on your shoulder?

Dionysus

SisterAnn wrote: »

Britain's loss in this is Ireland's gain. We get a lot of folk coming over for hunts. Badly needed €€€ for us.

Yes, 800 years later it's reassuring to note that Ireland is still able to attract all the classy people from Britain.

x Purple Pawprints x

I agree with ohthebaby, you don't have to be from the city to realise that fox hunting is barbaric and cruel. One fox against 20+ hounds and 'men' on horseback, how is that a fair fight? Can you imagine how scared that one fox is. Doesn't matter how many people try and justify it, it's cruel.

John_Rambo

SisterAnn wrote: »

Dear right-on, vegetarian, liberal lefty Citydwellers

Dear name caller. I know you want to start a whole city v rural thing, but to be honest 99% of city folk don't give two craps about how you spend your weekend. You need to look a bit closer to home.

Captain Darling

Dionysus wrote: »

Yes, 800 years later it's reassuring to note that Ireland is still able to attract all the classy people from Britain.

The main reason for hunting tourists in the West of Ireland is not because they want to murder and innocent animal, its because of the stone walls and wild country side. I cant see why they dont ban the hunting of foxes and do drag hunting instead.

Isnt that what they have done in England?

Kintarō Hattori

SisterAnn wrote: »

Dear right-on, vegetarian, liberal lefty Citydwellers,

If we country folk ever become absolutely clueless and need to resort to someone else to tell us what to do and how to live our lives, we promise to to give you first option. Until then, we'll thank you to leave us be.

Kind regards,
Your country cousins.

I'm from the country and think it should be done away with.

Nodin

Zebra3 wrote: »

What a shameful article in the Indo supporting vile people terrorising an innocent animal.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/stephens-day-hunts-get-bang-for-their-bark-on-perfect-day-2973455.html



............

I thought this was going to be about Twink.....

galwayrush

Captain Darling wrote: »

The main reason for hunting tourists in the West of Ireland is not because they want to murder and innocent animal, its because of the stone walls and wild country side. I cant see why they dont ban the hunting of foxes and do drag hunting instead.

Isnt that what they have done in England?

The one off houses killed that romantic dream...:D:D

Captain Darling

galwayrush wrote: »

The one off houses killed that romantic dream...:D:D

Too true. Never mind fox hunting, its one off housing that is killing the country side.

Houses sticking out all over the place like pimples on a septic arse!

Nodin

Captain Darling wrote: »

The main reason for hunting tourists in the West of Ireland is not because they want to murder and innocent animal, its because of the stone walls and wild country side. I cant see why they dont ban the hunting of foxes and do drag hunting instead.

Isnt that what they have done in England?

Huntin down some fellah because he likes wearin a skirt is taken it a bit far, IMO.

kincsem

Cars squash foxes. Down with cars. Down with people who own cars or horses.

Benny_Cake

SisterAnn wrote: »

ItsAWindUp wrote: »

Did God grant you to right to slaughter innocent animals?

Country people have an inalienable right to defend their livestock, and it would be a cruel God who would deny us. Be it dogs worrying sheep or a fox after hens we are right to eliminate the threat. At least the hunt gives the little sneaky blighter a chance. It's not his worst enemy.They'll be sure to get both barrels around here.

Total nonsense.

If a fox was genuinely terrorising your livestock and affecting your livelihood then I would consider you well within your rights to shoot it. Dressing up like an idiot and riding around after it on horseback is a completely different matter.

And before you try to turn it into an urban vs rural issue, my family roots are in the countryside. "Hunt" supporters try to make out that it's part of rural heritage and that people from all walks of life take part, which isn't true, and even if it was wouldn't justify such barbarism.

cowzerp

kincsem wrote: »

Cars squash foxes. Down with cars. Down with people who own cars or horses.

they dont set out to terrorise the foxes, thats accidental and your post is laughable at best.

Captain Darling

Benny_Cake wrote: »

Total nonsense.

If a fox was genuinely terrorising your livestock and affecting your livelihood then I would consider you well within your rights to shoot it. Dressing up like an idiot and riding around after it on horseback is a completely different matter.

And before you try to turn it into an urban vs rural issue, my family roots are in the countryside. "Hunt" supporters try to make out that it's part of rural heritage and that people from all walks of life take part, which isn't true, and even if it was wouldn't justify such barbarism. This

Its part of our heritage alright, that is, the heritage of the English gentry landlords.

midlandsmissus

Sister Ann if you're defending your livestock why not just shoot the fox? Why dress up on twenty horses with twenty hounds and parade around for the day?. It looks so f*cking idiotic more than anything.

kincsem

cowzerp wrote: »

they dont set out to terrorise the foxes, thats accidental and your post is laughable at best.

Nice to hear you laughed. Foxes hunt. Sparrowhawks hunt the goldfinches in my garden. Hunting is common in nature.

People hunt foxes for sport. Mostly it is to have a day out in the countryside riding their horses.

I ate turkey at Christmas and wear leather shoes. Moaning about people who own hunters chasing foxes is just pious pointless finger pointing.

galwayrush

Is it ok to replace fox hunting with spammer hunting no?
I see asshole spammer is back again....

LK_Dave

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

We should follow Englands lead and ban fox hunting with hounds. It's really quite a barbaric 'sport'.

Fox hunting still exists in England. They get around the ban by training an Eagle Owl to kill the fox before the hounds get to do so. Of course it doesn't always work out that way....I know of one hunt where the hounds killed the bird.

dlofnep

It's just a shame that the foxes don't have opposable thumbs - Otherwise, I'd arm them all with machine guns, buy a bucket of popcorn and kick back while they ravage these snobby, self-righteous twats.

Chasing down a fox is barbaric.

The King of Moo

SisterAnn wrote: »

Britain's loss in this is Ireland's gain. We get a lot of folk coming over for hunts. Badly needed €€€ for us.

New Labour's crazy move there was easily pushed through by a relatively large urban population with a poor understanding of country sports.

I could never see a Garda squad car hassling a hunt here. We'll always have this fine winter tradition. It is a glorious thing to see. There are no 'toffs' in my local hunt. They are farming folk largely and love horses.

It does taste nice in fairness.

Controlling the fox population is fine, but if you want to do that just shoot the little beggars quietly and don't make an obscene, triumphalist spectacle out of it. I might understand people doing that if they were hunting dangerous big cats on their own, but a bunch of bloodthirsty goons with a pack of dogs chasing one little fox? How can you be proud of that?
Just admit that the people on these hunts do it because they enjoy it, not because they want to control the fox population and protect their chickens, because there are so many more efficient ways to do that.

As for your imagined country/city divide, that's just nonsense.

I also don't buy the "it's tradition" argument for one second.
We used to sacrifice people to the gods of nature for a long, long time, longer than people having been hunting on Stephen's Day. Should we still be doing that?

Captain Darling

galwayrush wrote: »

I see asshole spammer is back again....

I'm pro asshole spamming though. Where does this leave me?

MungBean

kincsem wrote: »

Nice to hear you laughed. Foxes hunt. Sparrow hawks hunt the goldfinches in my garden. Hunting is common in nature.

Do foxes and sparrow hawks hunt on horseback with trained packs of dogs ?

People hunt foxes for sport. Mostly it is to have a day out in the countryside riding their horses.

Calling it a sport doesnt justify it just makes it more ignorant. Terrorising and slaughtering a living creature for fun is low. If a fox did it to your chickens ( as so often pointed out) you call it vermin and head off to kill it.

Are you vermin ? Should you be hunted down and killed for sport to fill a sunday afternoon ?

Zebra3

myflipflops wrote: »

If you think this can be compared to Fox then you have never watched Fox.

I do watch Faux News every so often just to see how bad it is and how biased it is.

Same with this rubbish in the Indo.

No question of the cruelty and terror the innocent animal is exposed to.

No question on damage to property.

Just a jolly day out for all. :rolleyes:

Now what happens when animals are abused in certain working class parts of Dublin? "Sick evil scum's cruelty means horse is put down" or something similar is you read in the Indo. Yet, it's ok to be evil to animals in rural settings so long as you dress up like lorded English gentry. :rolleyes:

I feel sorry for decent countryfolk who abhor the cruelty that the Indo portrayed as a bit of fun, and which in turn other countryfolk claim is their "way of life".

It's no more their way of life than shooting up heroin is in urban areas.

galwayrush

Captain Darling wrote: »

I'm pro asshole spamming though. Where does this leave me?

Hmm, dilema i guess, but on the other hand sounds like fun.:D

Scruffles

galwayrush wrote: »

Is it ok to replace fox hunting with spammer hunting no?
I see asshole spammer is back again....

yes,we are replacing fox hunting with human hunting.
human population is getting out of hand and needs control,we shall be using pitbulls seized from gangs as our hounds and have a variety of weapons such as tazers,cross bows & mini chainsaws to keep it fun humane.
of course,this isnt a sport though,its population and pest control,its helping them.

Benny_Cake

kincsem wrote: »

cowzerp wrote: »

they dont set out to terrorise the foxes, thats accidental and your post is laughable at best.

Nice to hear you laughed. Foxes hunt. Sparrowhawks hunt the goldfinches in my garden. Hunting is common in nature.

People hunt foxes for sport. Mostly it is to have a day out in the countryside riding their horses.

I ate turkey at Christmas and wear leather shoes. Moaning about people who own hunters chasing foxes is just pious pointless finger pointing.

It must be possible to have a day out in the countryside horseriding without scaring a fox to death?

I've nothing against people hunting - it isn't for me but as long as it takes account of conservation issues and the hunter would eat whatever he shot I wouldn't have much of an issue. Chasing foxes in this fashion isn't hunting.

kincsem

MungBean wrote: »

Do foxes and sparrow hawks hunt on horseback with trained packs of dogs ?

Calling it a sport doesnt justify it just makes it more ignorant. Terrorising and slaughtering a living creature for fun is low. If a fox did it to your chickens ( as so often pointed out) you call it vermin and head off to kill it.

Are you vermin ? Should you be hunted down and killed for sport to fill a sunday afternoon ?

I haven't seen foxes on horseback with trained packs of dogs hunting foxes, but I'll keep a look out.

I do not support hunting foxes with hounds. I am in favour of horses exercising across the countryside. Of course thoroughbred horses do not occur in nature, and are a manufactured breed produced to amuse the wealthy. The same for the hounds. The foxes are original, and I think they will survive. Foxes look cuddly. My sister feeds them in her garden here in south county Dublin. She thinks she is helping the environment, flora, fauna, and the like.

The discussion revolves around cruelty in a fox hunt. It isn't nice and I do not support it, but I don't feel strongly enough about it to worry about it. The only thing that attracts hunt saboteurs to it is they want to be seen to do the PC thing. But dogs are thrown out after Christmas, Loads of bad things happen. The fox hunt is just a bigger spectacle for the anti-hunt lobby to display their worthiness.

Am I vermin? Nice question. I assume the person who applies that label has already made up their mind.

Wertz

Oh wiley fox....you may have escaped toffee nosed c*nts with dogs, but see how you fair under the wheels of my car.

MungBean

kincsem wrote: »

I haven't seen foxes on horseback with trained packs of dogs hunting foxes, but I'll keep a look out.

I do not support hunting foxes with hounds. I am in favour of horses exercising across the countryside. Of course thoroughbred horses do not occur in nature, and are a manufactured breed produced to amuse the wealthy. The same for the hounds. The foxes are original, and I think they will survive. Foxes look cuddly. My sister feeds them in her garden here in south county Dublin. She thinks she is helping the environment, flora, fauna, and the like.

The discussion revolves around cruelty in a fox hunt. It isn't nice and I do not support it, but I don't feel strongly enough about it to worry about it. The only thing that attracts hunt saboteurs to it is they want to be seen to do the PC thing. But dogs are thrown out after Christmas, Loads of bad things happen. The fox hunt is just a bigger spectacle for the anti-hunt lobby to display their worthiness.

Am I vermin? Nice question. I assume the person who applies that label has already made up their mind.

I am not calling you vermin just highlighting the fact that people who see hunting as ok because other animals do it never see a human hunting equivalent to an animals hunting. People refer to a fox as vermin because it hunts yet when they do it its ok because its a bit of fun on a sunday.

You sound like your against cruelty to animals. You seem to know its wrong to inflict suffering on a living creature for entertainment. Yet dont have a very high opinion of those who would campaign against it. I cant see why you would be against it happening and at the same time denouncing people for trying to stop it.

Ms. Pingui

I'm from the country and I have spent my whole life around horses and I train horses. Most people on this thread seem to think that evryone who hunts is stuck up and posh and loves killing animals.

I know heaps of people who hunt and the vast majority of them don't go out to see a fox get killed. They go to train their horses over the ditches, drains and stonewalls. They go to have a good day out jumping with their horse and thier friends. The fox is very, very rarely caught!

I don't hunt myself because I don't like any type of bloodsports. I'm just making the point that most people don't go hunting for the reasons you might think. If you saw how well these people treat their horses you would see that the majority of them are the opposite of cruel and barbaric!

MungBean

Ms. Pingui wrote: »

I'm from the country and I have spent my whole life around horses and I train horses. Most people on this thread seem to think that evryone who hunts is stuck up and posh and loves killing animals.

I know heaps of people who hunt and the vast majority of them don't go out to see a fox get killed. They go to train their horses over the ditches, drains and stonewalls. They go to have a good day out jumping with their horse and thier friends. The fox is very, very rarely caught!

I don't hunt myself because I don't like any type of bloodsports. I'm just making the point that most people don't go hunting for the reasons you might think. If you saw how well these people treat their horses you would see that the majority of them are the opposite of cruel and barbaric!

They can go out and train their horses any day of the week in that terrain and the fact they treat their horses so well shows how hypocritical they are. They dont give two flying fcuks for the fox as long as they enjoy themselves. Not what I'd call animal lovers or opponents of animal cruelty.

SisterAnn

MungBean wrote: »

People refer to a fox as vermin because it hunts ...

No it is vermin because it attacks the livelihood of people. All animals hunt. Vermin spread disease or threaten crops/livestock. Good riddance. No bleeding heart on that. They ain't no Bambi.

Foxhunting will be fine here for while yet thankfully. The Green party won't be back anytime soon and the major parties don't see any percentage in alienating the rural constituents who enjoy our traditional winter country sports.

Somebody earlier in the thread raised pheasant hunting and in particular the beating technique used to raise the birds for the shooters. They displayed a total townie ignorance with these remarks. These birds are stocked by the gun clubs ie if not for pheasant hunting - pheasants would not be seen in the Irish countryside full stop. Ironically the few remaining wild occurances would be polished by, wait for it, your brush-tailed vermin friend the fox. Poor cratur.:)

foxinsox

Ms. Pingui

MungBean wrote: »

They can go out and train their horses any day of the week in that terrain and the fact they treat their horses so well shows how hypocritical they are. They dont give two flying fcuks for the fox as long as they enjoy themselves. Not what I'd call animal lovers or opponents of animal cruelty.

No, you can't do that any day of the week. A lot of people don't have access to that kind of terrian evry day of the week. The roads around have gone so dangerous and full of ignorant drivers that roadwork is also off limits for a lot of people.
You can't train a horse how to behave in a large group when your on your own, or train them to deal with such excitement. I won't go into too much detail about it because if you don't know anything about horses you wouldn't understand.
I'm not saying that they are not being a bit hypocritical, I'm just saying they do it because its their only oppertunity to do such training. If there was an option to have no fox under threat, believe me, the majority of the people I know would be happy about it.
Just because somebody hunts doesn't mean that they love animal cruelty.

MungBean

SisterAnn wrote: »

No it is vermin because it attacks the livelihood of people. All animals hunt. Vermin spread disease or threaten crops/livestock. Good riddance. No bleeding heart on that. They ain't no Bambi.

Foxhunting will be fine here for while yet thankfully. The Green party won't be back anytime soon and the major parties don't see any percentage in alienating the rural constituents who enjoy our traditional winter country sports.

Somebody earlier in the thread raised pheasant hunting and in particular the beating technique used to raise the birds for the shooters. They displayed a total townie ignorance with these remarks. These birds are stocked by the gun clubs ie if not for pheasant hunting - pheasants would not be seen in the Irish countryside full stop. Ironically the few remaining wild occurances would be polished by, wait for it, your brush-tailed vermin friend the fox. Poor cratur.:)

I dont think it will last as long as you think. Intelligence is spreading and even the vast wilderness of the Irish country side cannot escape progress. Stupid traditions are being replaced with reason and logic every where you turn so wallow in your ignorance while you can because pretty soon your gonna have to join the rest of us decent folk and find something else to do on a sunday other than torment animals.

John_Rambo

SisterAnn wrote: »

Somebody earlier in the thread raised pheasant hunting and in particular the beating technique used to raise the birds for the shooters. They displayed a total townie ignorance with these remarks. These birds are stocked by the gun clubs ie if not for pheasant hunting - pheasants would not be seen in the Irish countryside full stop.

Why is he/she an ignorant townie if he/she doesn't like it? How do you know he/she is a townie? He/she never mentioned where they come from and who introduced them.

Again with the silly city/rural divide thing.

Ms. Pingui

MungBean wrote: »

I dont think it will last as long as you think. Intelligence is spreading and even the vast wilderness of the Irish country side cannot escape progress.

Everyone who partakes in a hunt is of low intelligence?

MungBean

Ms. Pingui wrote: »

Everyone who partakes in a hunt is of low intelligence?

Not necessarily, but the more civilisation progresses the less these stupid traditions and barbaric practices are tolerated. Although I would argue that anyone who claims to be intelligent and thinks tormenting an animal is an acceptable past time is only fooling themselves.

Irish Guitarist

Calling any animal 'vermin' is moronic. If killing other animals to eat makes an animal 'vermin' then human beings are the greatest vermin this planet has ever known. At least other animals tend not to hunt each other to extinction.

This idea that animal numbers need to be controlled by humans is moronic and is just an excuse to kill something. Nature can look after itself well enough without humans deciding which animals need to be killed off. In cases where animals are responsible for hunting other animals to extinction it's usually because humans introduced them into an environment where they don't belong.

What I really despise about fox hunting is the way they drag other animals into it. They're too lazy to even run after the fox so they sit on horses and let dogs rip the poor fox apart.

Ms. Pingui

MungBean wrote: »

Not necessarily, but the more civilisation progresses the less these stupid traditions and barbaric practices are tolerated. Although I would argue that anyone who claims to be intelligent and thinks tormenting an animal is an acceptable past time is only fooling themselves.

I don't think tormenting any animal is acceptable, thats why I don't hunt. I think a lot of people who hunt would be happy to take part in draghunting, because like ive said before, they don't go out to kill the fox! I think it would be a win win situation really!

goose2005

ItsAWindUp wrote: »

Did God grant you to right to slaughter innocent animals?

How guilty, exactly, was your Christmas turkey? Or the pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens etc. you eat all year round?

Captain Darling wrote: »

The majority of people that follow the hunt are a pack of stuffed shirt knobs.

I've no time for their argument in relation to pest control either, its a load of bollocks. Unneccessary cruelty IMHO.

As opposed to necessary cruelty - the meat that you absolutely must eat?

ItsAWindUp wrote: »

What absolute crap. It's simply done as a form of 'enjoyment', and what sort of sub-human would enjoy something like that?

But surely the feelings of the killed animal are more important than those of the killer? What does it matter to a pig that its slaughterer takes pleasure in his/her death, or that the slaughterer sees it as an unpleasant job for €9 an hour? What does it matter to the killed animal?

MungBean wrote: »

Do foxes and sparrow hawks hunt on horseback with trained packs of dogs ?

Foxes and hawks target the weakest and most vulnerable creatures, as does any hunter. No point in investing them with any sort of 'fair play' idea, they kill and eat whatever is easiest.

Benny_Cake wrote: »

It must be possible to have a day out in the countryside horseriding without scaring a fox to death?

I've nothing against people hunting - it isn't for me but as long as it takes account of conservation issues and the hunter would eat whatever he shot I wouldn't have much of an issue. Chasing foxes in this fashion isn't hunting.

Well, it makes no odds to the killed animal whether he/she is eaten or not. Foxes are in no danger of extinction in Ireland.

MungBean

Ms. Pingui wrote: »

I don't think tormenting any animal is acceptable, thats why I don't hunt. I think a lot of people who hunt would be happy to take part in draghunting, because like ive said before, they don't go out to kill the fox! I think it would be a win win situation really!

But they encourage it by participating in a hunt when it would be so easy to organise a ride out without the intentions of running a fox. But the entire thing is perpetuated by this want to keep the tradition and the tradition involves tormenting a fox. Regardless of whether they go out for the sole purpose of killing a fox nor not doesnt matter, they are taking part in a hunt where the end objective is killing a fox.

You dont do it because you think its not acceptable so why do you think its acceptable for others to do ?

Benny_Cake

Ms. Pingui wrote: »

I don't think tormenting any animal is acceptable, thats why I don't hunt. I think a lot of people who hunt would be happy to take part in draghunting, because like ive said before, they don't go out to kill the fox! I think it would be a win win situation really!

Genuine question - if that is the case what is stopping hunts from organising drag hunts? As you say it would be win-win and would wrong-foot the anti-hunt groups.

Captain Darling

goose2005 wrote: »

How guilty, exactly, was your Christmas turkey? Or the pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens etc. you eat all year round?


As opposed to necessary cruelty - the meat that you absolutely must eat?
.

The last time I was in an abbatoir i didnt see a group of jumped up flutes on horseback watching a cow being dug out of a hole and terriers ripping it apart.

Zebra3

Ms. Pingui wrote: »

I'm from the country and I have spent my whole life around horses and I train horses. Most people on this thread seem to think that evryone who hunts is stuck up and posh and loves killing animals.

I know heaps of people who hunt and the vast majority of them don't go out to see a fox get killed. They go to train their horses over the ditches, drains and stonewalls. They go to have a good day out jumping with their horse and thier friends. The fox is very, very rarely caught!

I don't hunt myself because I don't like any type of bloodsports. I'm just making the point that most people don't go hunting for the reasons you might think. If you saw how well these people treat their horses you would see that the majority of them are the opposite of cruel and barbaric!

Lots of murderers love their families so they couldn't be that bad cos they kill the odd stranger. :rolleyes:

Yahew

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

We should follow Englands lead and ban fox hunting with hounds. It's really quite a barbaric 'sport'.

it's only sorta banned.

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

Calling any animal 'vermin' is moronic. If killing other animals to eat makes an animal 'vermin' then human beings are the greatest vermin this planet has ever known. At least other animals tend not to hunt each other to extinction.

This idea that animal numbers need to be controlled by humans is moronic and is just an excuse to kill something. Nature can look after itself well enough without humans deciding which animals need to be killed off. In cases where animals are responsible for hunting other animals to extinction it's usually because humans introduced them into an environment where they don't belong.

There were plenty of extinctions prior to humanity appearing on the scene. Humans almost went extinct. Nature looking after itself would lead to extinctions, in fact human actions are nature looking after itself, as we are totally natural.

Foxes were hunted as they caused humans to loose the chickens and other livestock which would be the difference between life and death for their families. Now it is less necessary, but the fox is no more terrified by the hounds than the chicken is by the fox, or the mouse by the cat, the fish by the rod etc. Nature. Red in tooth and claw.

What I really despise about fox hunting is the way they drag other animals into it. They're too lazy to even run after the fox so they sit on horses and let dogs rip the poor fox apart.

To be fair they actually do chase on the horses, and presumably that takes some skill. People have died. Not really the same as you sitting around waiting for your Bit Meat Pizza.

melekalikimaka

dont see the issue, hunting is part of our heritage... we lose that... we lose a part of ourselves. after nuclear war, those toffs will be the mad maxs of the country with their skillz