It's Pest Control
Fox predation is responsible for only 1%-3% of livestock and game loss. On the other hand foxes prey on rabbits which are responsible for £100m worth of agricultural damage. The fox isn't even classed as a pest by DEFRA
If it were about pest control, why do so many hunts still maintain artificial earths so that there is a plentiful supply. If it were pest control why do the terrier men use bagged foxes (another recent conviction?)
LACS: << Fox hunting is not a credible form of pest control. Hunters claim that they are helping farmers by killing foxes, but this is a senseless argument that most people no longer believe. The League does not believe that there is any requirement for lethal fox control, but even if there was, then hunting is neither a humane nor effective way of doing it.
Any suggestion that fox hunting is about ‘pest control’ can be dismissed very quickly by the fact that hunts have been caught capturing and raising foxes purely so they can then be hunted. In May 2015, a League investigation revealed 16 terrified fox cubs held captive in a barn linked to a fox hunt in Yorkshire. We rescued them, took them to a vet, and sadly one died, but we released the others to safety. We are proud to have protected those foxes.
While the scale of this fox ‘factory’ was shocking, it’s not an isolated case. In December 2015, League Investigators released a fox found locked in a building near to where the Belvoir Hunt was meeting.
While foxes are of course predators – they kill other animals for food – their impact on livestock is exaggerated, and can be reduced with good farming practices.
The threat of the ‘fox in the chicken coop’ can be remedied with a secure electric fence. While sheep farmers may curse foxes for the loss of their lambs, in reality studies have shown that poor farming practices, disease and bad weather are far more likely to lead to lamb deaths. A 2000 study in Scotland found that around just 1% of lamb losses could be directly attributed to foxes.
On the other hand, by feeding on rabbits, a 2003 study estimated that rural foxes save British crop farmers around £7m per year.
It's a quick nip to the neck
This is NOT TRUE! A study of post-mortem examinations of foxes killed by hounds above ground found that the animals died from ‘profound trauma’ inflicted by multiple dog bites. The study showed that in many cases foxes are disemboweled first. Look at the footage online. There's plenty
Hunts claim that hounds make a quick kill with a nip to the back of the neck.
If you have ever watched a fox being ripped apart by a pack of hounds you will know this certainly isn’t true. The actual death can take some time where the fox is used as a tug of war between the hounds and slowly ripped apart. This behaviour can be observed daily with domestic dogs pulling on a toy.
A study of post-mortem examinations of foxes killed by hounds relieve that foxes died from profound trauma inflicted by multiple wounds to the body.
The study showed that in many cases foxes are disembowelled first. The Burns report also concluded that hunting with dogs causes animal suffering both during the latter stages of the chase and at the kill.
A kill by a pack of hounds is one of the most brutal events to witness and totally unnecessary.
– this has no place in a civilised society. No right-thinking person can think this is acceptable.
Here is just one example of footage of hunt dogs killing a fox (from West Midlands Hunt Sabs)
We only take the old and infirm foxes
This is another myth, another lie put out by the hunts.
· If it really were the case that most foxes are old or infirm why would they need to block badger setts to prevent the fox going to ground? If the fox were old, sick or infirm it would be caught before it could find refuge
· If that were the case and a fox does manage to get to ground why do they need to dig it out? If the fox were old, sick or infirm it would have been caught pretty quickly. Sometimes a fox is chased for a couple of hours. These aren’t sick, old, infirm foxes but terrified and exhausted creatures.
· If that were the case why would they make sure they had a plentiful supply through the use of artificial earths?
· If it were the case why would hunts use ‘bagged foxes’?
· If that were the case why would they go cub hunting? Here they are actively killing young foxes to train the new hounds. These aren’t old, sick and infirm foxes. These are adolescents.
This is just another myth to try and defend their sick, psychopathic bloodlust. Don’t fall for it.
While we’re about it let’s have a closer look at cub-hunting/cubbing because these certainly aren’t old or infirm:
In fact August to October is cub-hunting season. This is when young hounds are trained to kill foxes.
Cub hunting or autumn hunting as the hunts have renamed it to make it sound more publically pleasing involves :
· lots of riders surrounding a wood containing a fox den,
· sending a pack of hounds in to kill the young cubs to teach the young hounds to kill,
· any cubs that try to escape the riders chase them back in forcing the cubs into the mouths of the hounds to be ripped apart.. the hunts claim innocently they are only exercising the hounds.
Many hunts pre-kill the adult foxes which, given a loop hole in the law, then allows them to kill the cubs.
Any cubs which hide in the dens are either dug out and terriers are sent in underground to fight and drag the cubs out so they can be thrown alive to the hounds to rip apart.
This activity is usually done in complete secret and is totally un-policed or investigated.
This must be one of the cruellest hunting activities and one which is blatantly illegal.
It's more humane
LACS: << Scientific evidence shows that the animals targeted in hunting suffer physical and mental stress when chased by a hunt - whether or not they are eventually killed.
The
Burns Report produced in the year 2000 stated that “There is a lack of firm scientific evidence about the effect on the welfare of a fox of being closely pursued, caught and killed above ground by hounds. We are satisfied, nevertheless, that this experience seriously compromises the welfare of the fox.” That is one of the reasons hunting with dogs for sport was banned in Britain over a decade ago.
Foxes naturally escape predators by going underground, but hunts employ staff to block up these escape routes the morning before a hunt meet, forcing an unnaturally long chase. If someone is found guilty of
blocking a badger sett, it is often done for this reason.
If a fox does succeed in escaping underground, hunt followers send terriers down the hole to trap the fox while they dig it out and then shoot it. Again, the Burns Report concluded that the inability to escape dogs underground causes the fox ‘extreme fear’ and is a ‘serious compromise of its welfare.’
Autopsies reveal hunted foxes are not killed quickly, but endure numerous bites and tears to their flanks and hindquarters - causing enormous suffering before death. Foxes forced to face terriers underground can suffer injuries to the face, head and neck, as can the terriers.
Huntsmen love their hounds
This is a total fallacy – once the hounds get too old or slow they are shot and disposed of. They are routinely put in danger on roads and railway lines. They are simply seen as a commodity.
LACS: << Hunts regularly breed more puppies than are required for the hunting pack. Only the most promising are selected, often through the tradition of ‘cub hunting’, during which the riders surround an area containing fox cubs and send the hounds in to learn how to kill them. We also have recent evidence of fox cubs being thrown to the hounds at a hunt kennels – to teach the dogs that they should kill these animals. Those dogs that fail to make the grade at any stage from birth onwards are killed.
Once dogs have entered the pack they are culled if they fail to thrive as pack animals, if they become ill and unable to keep up with the pack, when they become too old to hunt with the pack, or when they become surplus to hunt requirements. The average hunt dog lives much less than the normal life expectancy for a dog of the breed.>>
It's accidental - the fox crossed our path
There are simply far too many accidents for this to be true.
How many times do we see foxes moving TOWARDS the hounds? All the ones we see where hounds are concerned are frantically fleeing for their lives (as are any rabbits, hares, deer …). Foxes are highly intelligent and the only way a fox would ‘cross their path’ is if it had been deliberately released into the path of the hounds – and yes this does happen.
This is simply another lie – hunts maintain artificial earths so there is a plentiful supply; terriermen release ‘bagged’ foxes into the hunts’ path; hunts actively hunt areas where they know there are foxes; hunts have been known to pursue a fox for over two hours!
The ‘accident’ is simply a means of exploiting a loophole in the hunting ban.
People who are riding with the hunt are often held back so that they don’t see the reality and they can be told it was accidental.
The huntsman often hangs back (deliberately so that is not in the frame of any photography or filming) so that he can claim it was accidental – the burden of proof is so high that the fox, hounds and huntsman have to be in the same frame.
The ‘accidental kill’ is simply another trail hunt lie
Foxes kill for fun - Have you seen what a fox does in a hen house?
The Hunts claim that: “Foxes are vicious and cruel - have you seen what they do to a chicken coop if they get in? They kill all the birds for pleasure."- NOT TRUE - It's another bit of outdated propaganda. Foxes are opportunistic feeders. If the opportunity arises they will kill surplus prey and store it to be eaten later.
If a hungry animal suddenly finds food, it will eat it... just like we do... but the foxes kill extra chickens with the purpose of burying them for future use when the pickings are slim. Left to themselves they will come back and bury those chickens... but they are not completely stupid - if there is a farmer with a gun waiting to shoot him, Mr. Fox is not going to come back and collect the food supplies. Killing for pleasure?... make no mistake... there is only one animal that does this… MAN.
I have several friends with chickens and some of them have lost some to the fox. Their response has been to simply improve security and not to blame the wild animal for just trying to survive.
FALSE : Foxes just kill chickens for fun.
TRUE : Yes foxes do sometimes kill chickens, birds are one of their natural food sources.
If they kill more than they can eat at one sitting, they bury (cache) their food in shallow holes 5-10cm deep to eat later and if undisturbed will return for any other kills. This is thought to prevent the loss of their entire food supply in the event that another animal finds one of the stores. This noble trait is responsible for the myth that foxes ‘kill for pleasure’ rather than food.
Foxes can only carry one chicken at a time, therefore can make multiple trips to collect their food. Often they are disturbed and can’t return to collect their food, so it appears they have just killed their food for fun and left them. Farmers and hunters clearly know this fact but it suits them to keep the exaggerated lie going so they can continue blaming the fox and hunting it.
Fox-proof chicken coops are widely available for owners to protect their chickens.
Lets put things in perspective - Millions of chickens die everyday from poor husbandry, appalling living conditions, adding unnatural growth additives into chicken feed etc. This puts into perspective foxes taking a few chickens to survive.
We have all seen the horrors of the way chickens are reared in factory farms, die and are disposed of, this must cost the industry millions in lost profit, so to moan about the fox killing a few chickens to survive is somewhat hypocritical.
Foxes kill lambs
The Myth: Hunt supporters claim the fox population needs to be controlled because they are a problem to farmers.
The Truth: this myth has repeatedly been debunked by scientific studies accepted by DEFRA.
Foxes are often blamed for killing lambs, however a fox is no match for a healthy lamb, particularly a lamb being protected by the mother ewe.
According to DEFRA (2004) the main causes of lamb losses are abortion, stillbirth, weather exposure, starvation, multiple births, infectious disease and congenital defects. 95% of lamb losses are due to poor farm husbandry practices.
For the remaining 5% it is debatable if foxes, birds of prey or domestic dogs are responsible (According to Sheep Watch about 15,000 sheep are killed each year by domestic dogs - and these are only the reported cases) . We have even seen cases of the hunts and their hounds causing lamb deaths and sheep miscarriages.
A study of Scottish hill farms found that less than 1% of lamb losses could be confidently attributed to fox predation.
A fox may take a sick lamb which have been abandoned by its mother. A fox would have little chance of killing a healthy lamb being protected by the mother ewe
Helping the farmer
A large part of the foxes' diet is made up of rabbits and rats, which cause in excess of £100 million damage to agriculture each year. Given their diet, foxes keep the numbers of mice, rabbits and rats down, saving farmers millions of pounds in lost grain supplies. By removing foxes rabbit numbers will increase.
(Ref : Foxes and Agriculture IFAW Biological Sciences, University of Bristol & Environment Department, University of York)
Resorting to carrion for food, foxes and badgers will sometimes clean up sheep carcasses which are left in fields to rot by farmers. As a result, they may be seen and mistaken for the actual killers, which hunts take full advantage of, making false exaggerated claims to make the fox look like a villain in the media. Is this because hunts have a hidden agenda to poison the public’s minds so they can continue to hunt foxes. After all, the hunts make big money out of killing foxes.
Despite repeated requests for farmers and small holders to provide video evidence of the “actual killing of a lamb by a fox” there has been very little evidence provided to back up this myth claim that foxes are actually a problem to lambs.
95% due to poor care.
5% due to predation
1% maybe due to foxes
Perhaps farmers need to start blaming themselves and not the foxes.
You don't understand the countryside
This is a throw-away accusation the hunts make to make it appear that this is a town v countryside issue. They hate the thought that country people might oppose them, too - but we do.
Polls regularly return 85% of the population being opposed to fox-hunting. More than 15% of the population live in rural areas so their claim isn't backed up by statistics. It serves their purpose though, to try to make it a town v country issue or a class war issue.
Even as a child I was aware of several farmers who were opposed to the hunt. Now I know of many farmers and landowners who are opposed to the hunt and ban them from their land. We also know of some who are opposed to the hunt but who are intimidated and afraid to refuse the hunt.
This is NOT a party political issue, a class issue or a town v country issue. It is compassion v cruelty. It is as simple as that
It's Tradition
It might be tradition - but so was bear baiting, dog fighting, burning witches. In some cultures child marriage is tradition. in some cultures arranged marriage is tradition. In some cultures FGM is tradition. Just because something is tradition doesn't make it right.
We're trail hunting
The hunts claim to be ‘trail hunting’ so we need to clarify what trail hunting is and clear up some misunderstanding.
First of all we need to differentiate between drag hunting and trail hunting. Drag hunting is decades old, does not use fox hounds and uses artificial scent so no wildlife is harmed in a drag hunt.
Trail hunting was set up in the wake of the hunting ban. The hunts claim to follow a trail, but all it is is a device to let them continue hunting with impunity as before:
- Trail hunts use fox urine. This has to be bought from DEFRA under licence. Funnily enough the stats show minimal licensed purchases so where do they get the fox urine from?
- If they are trail hunting why do they need terrier men? The spokesperson from the Cuntryside Alliance actually had a straight face when she said they were there to open gates and mend fences – despite repeated video clips from sabs surfacing of terriermen blocking badger setts (illegal) and sending terriers down after a fox that has gone to ground and then digging it out. Once the fox is dug out it is then thrown to the hounds or ‘bagged’
- If they are trail hunting why do hounds end up in impenetrable bush, in people’s gardens, all over main roads, on railway lines?
- If they are trail hunting why do they go ‘cubbing’ (what they euphemistically call ‘autumn hunting’) to train their new, young hounds to kill foxes. Indeed a recent court case saw some hunt personnel convicted for taking young fox cubs and throwing them live into the kennels for hounds to tear apart
- If they are trail hunting why do they block badger setts?
- If they are trail hunting why are fox cubs still taken from the wild and used to train hounds.
- If they were trail hunting there would be no need to train hounds to kill. One to two years after the ban was brought in we would be onto a new generation of hounds (and then several since then) so there wouldn’t be any of these too frequent ‘accidents’. They kill because they are taught to kill and trained to kill foxes – so the hunts are still actively training their hounds to kill foxes
Trail hunting is a LIE, a cover. That’s all. The hunts continue to blatantly hunt foxes and flout the law with impunity.
