The Master mounts his lead horse
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A quick nap before jumping fences and hedges
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The Master of the Hunt leads out the hounds
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A small section of the hunt
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Driving along narrow English country lanes is delightful. Pleasant surprises wait around every bend, like pretty thatched cottages, colourful fields, and berry-laden trees. But it's not so pleasant to drive around a Z-bend like I did last week, to find horses and riders about to "hunt foxes".
Fox-hunting means the fox (or its scent) is tracked, chased and sometimes killed by a pack of dogs, followed by a group of unarmed followers, mainly on horseback.
Modern fox hunting began in England in 16th century. English gentry sent the 'sport' to Europe, North America, Scandinavia, Russia and Australia. Most countries had no foxes until the red fox was introduced for 'sport'. Hunts are social occasions. Status is shown by clothing colour, ribbons, and the number of buttons on a coat.
Hunts chase red foxes, that live in underground burrows, and run at up to 30 miles per hour over up to 8 sq miles. Foxes are tired and captured by hounds after about two hours.
After capture, come rituals. An old custom is "Blooding" - the master smears fox blood a new hunt follower's face, even a young child. Some hunts cut off the tail ('brush'), feet and head as trophies. Dogs eat the carcass.
In 2005 in England, vociferous public opinion against cruelty to animals, led to a Law that bans fox-hunting. The Law hasn't helped. The year after, 320,000 people took part in fox hunts just on December 26th. The Southdown & Eridge Hunt I saw last week has 57,000 people's signatures to repeal the Hunting Act. Hunt members are increasing.
The basic argument is, farmers wish to hunt for pest control, and conservation of chicken farms. Opponents argue that it is cruel and unnecessary.
About 7,000 full-time jobs depend on hunting in the UK. Since the UK ban, there has been no significant job losses.
Hunts still operate. They get around the law by trail hunting - laying a trail of a fox's scent for the dogs to follow. Or drag hunting where one horse drags a dead fox for others to find. Or even letting the hounds smell a man, and then find his trail. Drag or trail hunting also means hordes of horses following artificial scents.
The point is this. Hunts can follow an artificial scent but... if dogs follow a real fox's scent "by mistake", and catch and tear the fox to death, there is no case to answer in Law for the dog's "mistake".
If foxes and dogs have souls, I hope they learn their healing soul lesson that, like people, it's best not to kill each other...
Fox-hunting means the fox (or its scent) is tracked, chased and sometimes killed by a pack of dogs, followed by a group of unarmed followers, mainly on horseback.
Modern fox hunting began in England in 16th century. English gentry sent the 'sport' to Europe, North America, Scandinavia, Russia and Australia. Most countries had no foxes until the red fox was introduced for 'sport'. Hunts are social occasions. Status is shown by clothing colour, ribbons, and the number of buttons on a coat.
Hunts chase red foxes, that live in underground burrows, and run at up to 30 miles per hour over up to 8 sq miles. Foxes are tired and captured by hounds after about two hours.
After capture, come rituals. An old custom is "Blooding" - the master smears fox blood a new hunt follower's face, even a young child. Some hunts cut off the tail ('brush'), feet and head as trophies. Dogs eat the carcass.
In 2005 in England, vociferous public opinion against cruelty to animals, led to a Law that bans fox-hunting. The Law hasn't helped. The year after, 320,000 people took part in fox hunts just on December 26th. The Southdown & Eridge Hunt I saw last week has 57,000 people's signatures to repeal the Hunting Act. Hunt members are increasing.
The basic argument is, farmers wish to hunt for pest control, and conservation of chicken farms. Opponents argue that it is cruel and unnecessary.
About 7,000 full-time jobs depend on hunting in the UK. Since the UK ban, there has been no significant job losses.
Hunts still operate. They get around the law by trail hunting - laying a trail of a fox's scent for the dogs to follow. Or drag hunting where one horse drags a dead fox for others to find. Or even letting the hounds smell a man, and then find his trail. Drag or trail hunting also means hordes of horses following artificial scents.
The point is this. Hunts can follow an artificial scent but... if dogs follow a real fox's scent "by mistake", and catch and tear the fox to death, there is no case to answer in Law for the dog's "mistake".
If foxes and dogs have souls, I hope they learn their healing soul lesson that, like people, it's best not to kill each other...
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