Pros and Cons in Fox Hunting

In this paper I will discuss the issues surrounding foxhunting. I will mention the pros and the cons and then I will decide if fox hunting should be criminalized. I will begin with the pros. Just a little intro on foxhunting and what it is. In Britain mostly England foxhunting is a popular sport. Hunters set out on horse back following hounds witch are following the scent of foxes. When the hounds find the fox they rip it apart and the hunters watch this happen and then go off to find more foxes. The foxhunters generally wear coats of bright scarlet, called pinks. The members of the club support the hunt, and the Master of Fox Hounds (MFH) usually maintains it. Some of the pro points of fox hunting are, the fox is a pest and its population needs to be controlled. Farmers are concerned and agree with this. Responsible fox management includes maintaining a healthy population at a level, which it can grow without threatening livestock or other wildlife. Fox hunting is the most natural method of management: by its nature it takes out the old sick and injured foxes. Fox hunting does not just help control fox numbers, landowners with an interest in fox hunting plant and maintain coverts, woodlands and copses for the benefit of all wildlife. If it wasn't for fox hunting they would over populate and they would eventually have to be caught and be shot or gassed. Foxes cause significant lamb, piglets, and poultry losses. Scientific estimates vary from 0. 5% to 5. %; even at 2% the cost to a typical farmer with 1500 lambs and piglets is worth over $2200. Without control the percentage would increase considerably. If there was a ban on fox hunting 15,000 people whose jobs directly depended on fox hunting would be out of work, some 14,000 foxhounds would have no future, as these working pack hounds would not make suitable pets. The species is not endangered Now on to the cons of the subject, the official foxhunting season begins on November 1st and continues through April. Some hunts even go into May. Fox cubs are usually born in March, which means that a pregnant and nursing vixen (female fox) are hunted and killed by hounds. Incidents of vixens being killed and unborn cubs being scattered around by the hounds at a kill, these have been recorded on film. There are also several recorded instances of hounds attacking small pet dogs and cats which, although fatally savaged survived the initial attack, further evidence that the hounds do not kill their prey instantly. Generally people see it as a cruel blood sport that should be banned. Many have argued that if fox hunting is banned jobs will be lost, however this is unlikely to happen because labor and other resources associated with fox hunting would be reinvested in other enterprises and activities. Drag and bloodhound hunts represent a cruelty-free alternative to mounted fox hunting. Drag hunting involves riding horses across open country in pursuit of a scent left by a human, either running on foot or trailed on scented â€Å"drag† from a horse. Bloodhound hunts differ from drag hunts in that there are fewer hounds and the hounds chase a human quarry (e. . a local athlete), rather than dragged artificial scent. Because of this few, if any jobs would be lost if the people that were involved in fox hunting chose to participate in either of these activities. A ban would also increase the availability of resources previously used by hunting to other rural business. For example, horse stables could be converted to living accommodation or office space. Overall, it would appear that a ban on fox hunting is unlikely to have any significant negative effect on rural employment. Existing evidence suggests that many jobs will be saved or created by a switch to drag or bloodhound hunting, and by the growth of new activities. Now for my conclusion if fox hunting should be criminalized, both sides have good arguments but I am against foxhunting because there are other methods of getting rid of the fox. From the research I have done I noticed that the hunters don†t just go after the fox because there is too much of them, but they also get a rush out of it. That†s why there are drag hunting and bloodhound hunts. A survey was done by 1000 farmers and they found that support for fox and drag/bloodhound hunting was fairly similar. 56% of farmers would not allow drag/bloodhound hunting on their land, compared to 48% opposed to foxhunting. Based on these findings, the league against cruel sports extrapolated that as many as 60 000 farmers in the UK, covering up to 7. 5 million hectares of land, would allow drag hunts on their land. Jobs would not be lost because the people and the hounds can transfer to drag hunting. I believe that a ban on foxhunting would be beneficial toward the economy and a new era would begin.