fox hunting

Mange ..Lightly infected individuals may suffer only short-term effects, whereas heavily infected individuals suffer from fur-loss and develop a thick crust of parasite wastage on the skin surface.
Fox affected by mange; fur-loss is evident on the rump and tail the disease is intensely irritating and animals have been known to chew their own tails off trying to relieve the itching. At advanced stages of the disease, infected individuals are often seen wandering around during the daytime, especially in cold weather; the infected animals try to maintain their body temperature seeking warm places, such as buildings. Death may arise from a wide variety of causes, including starvation and hypothermia.
Mange is a common disease of foxes and has caused fox population crashes around the world, including Britain and Scandinavia. Mange spreads effectively through rural and urban populations. Mange is not more common in urban, as opposed to rural areas. In Bristol, populations declined by >95% just two years following the arrival of mange and long term data indicate that populations take 15-20 years to recover.

Toxocara canis is a roundworm that can be found in both dogs and foxes. Research using genetic data from worms found in dogs and foxes has shown that they belong to the same population, and so Toxocara canis can be transmitted between dogs and foxes. Humans can be infected through their pet dog. Pet cats harbour a different species of worm, Toxocara cati, which can also infect humans.
Young children are particularly at risk because they tend to explore the world around them with their hands and mouths; infection with toxocariasis occurs through ingestion of material contaminated with the parasite’s eggs, such as dog and cat faeces or cat litter.

And sad to say these are the kind of foxes that hounds can catch and in turn eradicate further spread of said dieases leaving them to their own devices and shooting the healthy wont help us or the fox, as in now beginning to be proven with the decline in fox numbers and increase in domestic mange in pets.

@pete wrote:

Because most chickens are battery chickens and are therefore pretty damn safe and given the number of foxes in the country and the number of available chickens it stands to reason most foxes will have never seen a chicken. And given we have put men on the moon, found the titanic etc is it beyond mans capabilities to keep a fox away from free range chickens ? I dont think so

You can’t fight nature if a fox wants it thats a good chance they will get it, ok u may be able to apply NASA technology to perhaps keep a fenced in area free from foxes, but alot of free range are exactly that free range in fields and u are never gonna keep a fox out of there unless of course u perhaps built a 12 foot high fence around the field and dug down 4 foot with a barrier so they cant dig under the fence and there we have it no profits no more free range chickens and back to the battery we go, besides it is only a small part of the whole issue but foxes are still an issue and they are suffering since the ban their numbers are declining esp in rural areas due to disease, before we know it we will have an issue as we are getting with TB again now, badger baiting although abhorrent did actually help this issue too, since its ban TB became increasingly rife year on year you used to be able to apply to have them culled if you had a problem but that also 5 years ago after labour stopped it has increased the problem more and no im not saying bring back badger baiting that is disgusting and they are working on ways to try and bring this disease back in check in better ways, but u get my point! You could say well let them naturally manage themselves which of course we could the same as with rabbits and myxomotosis it bought numbers back in check. but when it interferes with a livlehood or indeed our or our animals lives, shouldnt we interfere? what if we get over run with rats do we let them self manage or do something abt it to protect ourselves ?

@susieq wrote:

@thin ice wrote:

i do like healthy debate

how long before some one says we shouldnt kill rats

Most people are displeased to find that their home or office has been invaded by rodents. .

Rodents are mammals that are native to all continents except Antarctica. A common trait among rodents is that they all have single incisors on each jaw. Common rodents that cause problems in both urban and rural areas include but are not limited to rats, mice, and squirrels.

Reasons to Exterminate Rodents Such as Rats, Mice, and Squirrels
Some may choose to just let rodents be, but that’s really not a good idea for the following reasons:

Rodents can damage homes and belongings by shredding wood, ripping up insulation, chewing through plastic, wood, cardboard and carpet.
Phone outages and electrical fires can be caused by rodents as they chew through wires and cords.
Rodents spread diseases and leave behind contaminates such as urine and feces.
Rodents, particularly rats, can damage soil and weaken foundations by creating long and elaborate tunnels beneath the home.

Of course I am assuming here that we are referring to the small furry kind of rats :lol:

Alternatively , whack em with a big stick. :wink: :lol:

That second clip i agree isnt right i have already stated that though, as for the first clip all u see yet again is so called do gooders interfering in the natural kill and closing off any potential escape routes for the dogs by a bunch of shouting morons who will scare the fox even more, and ok they say they saved that one although they didnt actually show it in the clip in the clip they actually said where has it gone but we’ll assume they did, they managed to save the animal after being partially responsible for causing its death by getting in the bloody way and confusing hounds who could have either dispensed of it quickly and efficently or it have got away, these LACS ppl videos u keep showing pete are merely showing me how ridiculous these ppl are, cant u see that, there interference is actually making the whole process worse for the animal and how many have they NOT saved but prolonged the death by screaming at the hounds and preventing them ending it as quickly and as painlessly as possible

I’m not keen on stag hunting in actual fact thats a different thing altogether, i have less knowledge of it for one, although i know it is a better riding experience but as i have said before that isnt a good enough reason alone to hunt i fully support that view, and yes some are just filled with the lust to kill some are not, and i said as painlessly as possible of course any killing will have a degree of pain but them idiotic morons yes the ones that put these “oh so bad clips on the internet” and of course they will be bad ones, as they are looking to sway people, like any arguement i guess they cant be blamed for that but they are not reporting true facts unfortunately, and these so called nice protecting people have no qualms in pounding both hounds and horses and riders with sprays, beating them with sticks and even go to the extent of knifing animals ok yes that may be the extreme and not apply to them all but so are those clips the extreme end. And foxes are wild animals scared of humans as well as hounds especially human waving their arms and screaming like idiots so a fox has hounds one side and its escape routes the other cut off by these people they really like to help the foxes dont they :roll: i would hazard a guess at these instances where this happens probably 80% of those foxes would have infact got away from the hounds had they not been hindered by these blithering fools and no this isnt fact but my assumption and take on it for the few they save in this way i bet there is a hell of a lot more that they unintentionally allow to get killed or like your first video suffer far more because of it.