“Just a thought.......should you have a riders licence much the same as a drivers licence to go hunting?.......is there such a thing as a riding offence? when hunting?”

“We are trying to pull the many supporters of the hunting ban together to build a peaceful and effective campaign against those political parties who pledge to repeal it. It will be a couple of weeks before our website is up and running but please send me an email if you are interested in helping out. Thanks! mhayworth@btinternet.com 'Campaign for Decency'”

“Back to the economics now. And let's keep the emotion out of it please. We need to revitalise our countryside, and a major source of economic diversification is tourism, and leisure. Many years ago I took my family to the Quantocks, well known walking terriotory - instead of a peaceful day out the fragile landscape was being destroyed by piles of cars driving over the hills, to follow the deer hunting. We left, as did all other tourists that day, and we spent our money elsewhere. I later asked Somerset County Council for their views and I quote "Tourism and Hunting do not mix" - The ban on fox hunting has not resulted in the economic catastrophe predicted by the self appointed Countryside Alliance - and many former hunters are able to continue this English tradition by drag hunting. I suggest that those who claim that this sport is good for the 'countryside' should talk to some tenants farmers, where they will get a different persepective. Foxes do need controlling, and that can be done with a gun. It is hunting for pleasure that is sickening and is now rightly illegal.”

“Mr LFE says:
"Fox hunting only happens every other weekend and rarely do they catch one"

This is absolutely untrue. A hunt such as the Quorn, or the Belvoir, hunt 4 or 5 days a week during the cubhunting season (just starting now) and 3 or 4 days a week during main season, from 1st November to mid-March.

All hunt magazines (pre ban) gave a "season report" stating the number of foxes killed, and a large hunt would easily kill a couple of hundred in a season. A large number of young foxes are killed during cubhunting, which is the period of the foxhunting calendar when the young hounds (the new entry) are trained to kill. Terriermen that go out with hunts with their terriers, spades and drain rods, kill many foxes during the hunting season.

Foxes do not need to be controlled by any means. They regulate their own numbers by dint of social pressures in stable groups regulating the number of vixens that come into oestrus. If you keep on disrupting social groups by killing foxes, the result is that more cubs will be born each Spring. Leave them alone.

Foxes represent little or no problem to farmers, and are actually helpful as they kill rabbits and voles. Those that claim they are a terrible threat to livestock are invariably foxhunters with a self-interested agenda - they try to demonise their victims so that people will not mind their barbaric activities quite so much.

The law should be made stronger to curb the current full-on lawbreaking that is taking place.

Hunters, when trying to justify repeal, will always get into a mess because they are trying to pretend they have stopped hunting foxes, and making claims about the effect of this, when in fact they are carrying on as before the ban, so there are no changes to report.

At present they are trying to drag out all their old justifications. If you care about cruelty issues, (unlike some who have posted comments here) don't vote Tory, and make sure all your friends know what they are intending.”

“I Don't like fox hunting with the old kill. I'd prefer the current alternative or something similar.

I do, however, dislike the political stereotyping cast by some on here that all country folk are 'Toffs', that all Tory voters are 'Toffs' and all must therefore be siding with the hunting community. Wrong.

This is about trying to understand the concerns of those working the countryside, the undeniable inhumane kill, the traditions of the activity itself and why some say the old way should be brought back and if not what's the best ¿workable¿ alternative.

I agree with the point made earlier, we have other pressing issues in this country at the moment than this, but this is an article reporting on a small minority of people who take part in Hunting and suggesting it the Tory party stance is an interesting slant on it all. I beg to differ. Some MP's may harbour sympathies toward the Hunting community, by they'll be comfortably in the minority when it comes to a free vote.

By assuming that the Tories will just vote it back in, is rather a misguided opinion I believe. The majority of the UK opposes the traditional kill, myself included. Forget all this meeting with senior Tories waffle. It would be a ¿Titanic¿ type moment for a Tory government to change it back to the bloodthirsty kill and one that David Cameron would almost certainly avoid, should they get into power that is.”

“Ahhhh, there's nothing better than pulling up at the manor in the 4x4 on a cool, crisp morning, sipping sherry, getting on the trusty stead, surrounded by a pack of mans best friend and off over the coutryside at pace with the unmistakable sound of the horn drifting through the mist as we decend on a fox.

When the dogs have finished, we get the tail and blood any hunt virgins by smearing the vermins blood over their faces.

Then off to the manor for a right good old slap up meal.

You should try it one morning...better than Facebook!”

“It occurs to me that people seem to think we should be fighting for the rights of people OR animals.

Why can't we do both????”

“Ok, but we all know foxes need controlling, so how would this be dealt with?? Youve mentioned that piosons can be laid for vermin, But then how do you stop rabbits and birds from eating it? Traps! you say, Who knows any Farmer that has the time to lay traps and then check them twice a day??? none! Its a known fact that animals caught in traps will starve to death, thirst to death, Or worse, Chew off there own limbs to get Free, or worse still! be eaten alive by other animals?? Our farming economy is suffering already, who would fund this culling by poison or traps?? and how do you expect it would be policed? Further more, The hunt does not ride rough shod over ANY body`s land, permission from land owners is sought, and the hunts themselves contirbute to wild life preservation, Fencing, hedging etc, people realy need to research this before comenting.”

“I deeply resent the suggestion that this is a country -v- town debate and that 'townies' are against fox hunting because they do not understand it whereas country folk do.
I I may live in a city now but I grew up in the country and I DO NOT support this animal cruelty, however 'traditional' it may be.
Some 'traditions' deserve to die out. How can we as a country criticise bullfighting in Spain or the baby seal cull in Canada if they can turn around and say 'you have your traditional animal cruelty, we have ours'.”

“Steve from Kibworth, so foxes actually understand 'fun' do they? Why don;t you check your facts first:

Taken from The Foxes Website:


"Foxes kill for pleasure:

False: This accusation is untrue: foxes do not kill for fun. Most animals need to find food every day to survive. Some nights are better than others in terms of food for a fox so, given the opportunity, foxes will always kill surplus food and cache (bury) it, to eat on another night when hunting is less good. This is a very successful strategy for surviving in the wild.

However, when a fox breaks into a hen house it is surrounded by easily caught prey. Its normal behaviour, and a good survival strategy is to kill all prey available and try to cache it. Given the option, the fox will come back for the remaining corpses and cache them. The solution is easy: securely house your animals"”