What are the humane alternatives – it is claimed that hunting with hounds is necessary to control fox numbers?
The whole point of hunting is that the ‘chase’ lasts as long as possible. This is why the hounds are bred for stamina, not speed. There have also been numerous cases where hunts have provided artificial earth’s to encourage foxes to breed to provide ‘sport’. Recently the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) secretly filmed an employee of the Beaufort Hunt feeding fox cubs. (The Observer, 11/6/00) Furthermore, killing foxes has no lasting results. Foxes are territorial animals – if one fox is killed another soon moves into its place from a surrounding area. Foxes also control their own population. The fox’s diet of rabbits and rats actually makes it an asset to most farmers. A 1996 MAFF booklet stated that only 0.4% of lambs who die do so due to accidents, dog attacks, and all other animal predatation – which includes being taken by foxes. There are estimated to be 250,000 adult foxes in the UK, producing about 400,000 cubs a year, most of which will die in their first year of l
