Re: Brian May and Foxhunting

I'm a fan of native wildlife.
Foxes are an introduced species in Aus - like bloody cats.
Both of which wreak havoc on our indigenous reptiles, birds and small furry critters.
Some to the point of extinction.

If I had my way, every fox and/or cat in the wild would be shot on sight !

Re: Brian May and Foxhunting

The aborigines probably think the same about mouthy bogans.

Re: Brian May and Foxhunting

And such a relevant and insightful contribution to the discussion.

Re: Brian May and Foxhunting

I do NOT object to foxes being expertly shot if they are a nuisance, Pummy.

What I do loathe though, is the way any animal is relentlessly pursued, chased till exhaustion, badger setts and holes blocked so they don't stand a chance even, and the glorification, blood smearing idiocy, and tail cutting palaver that goes with it. All totally unecessary.
Personally, I hope the sabateurs make their days a misery, if the hunters don't men their ways.

Re: Brian May and Foxhunting

You are quite correct Mups
The fox is not an animal designed by nature to run long distances .
It's an intelligent creature and survives by its wits.
It is the friend of the arable farmer as its main prey are rabbits rats and mice .
If it gets chickens it is because we human beings have put chickens in a position where they are vulnerable for our own consumption
They are penned and cannot protect themselves .
In the wild they would fly up in trees to avoid predators.
It is our problem not the foxes .
And everyone knows if there are no foxes there are hunts that will rear some !
There is simply no excuse for cruelty in sport.

Re: Brian May and Foxhunting

That is absolutely true Muddy, some hunts will do that to enable their 'sport.'

For the ones who tell us they are only using 'trails', well where do people think they are getting the urine from?
It's from foxes they are keeping captive. These captive creatures are also used to teach the novice hounds with.

There is nothing honorable in the hunt I'm afraid. The are a devious and deceitful bunch.

Incidentally, I knew of one hound very recently, who got his jaw badly kicked in by a horse's hoof. Would they spend money on veterinary help? Like 'eck they did.

Re: Brian May and Foxhunting

I think they can lay a drag using aniseed ( i may be wrong ) this is perfectly OK.
Old hounds get put down if they cant find someone to adopt them.
they are friendly dogs unfortunately are not house trained and will hunt small creatures ie pets!

Re: Brian May and Foxhunting

They also use urine round here Muddy.
Hope the link works.


https://www.facebook.com/Bedsandbuckssabs

Re: Brian May and Foxhunting

I apologise in advance for the length of my post, but what I have to say is rather a lengthy story !

Most people associated with fox-hunting are fairly selfish, as I found out when I was a groom for a woman (the wife of a vet no less !). She had two horses, one an ex-Grand National runner. She used to take two horses to the hunt so she could have a fresh horse half way through the day. Most of the hunt did this. However, when her ex Grand National runner got badly injured and had to remain in his stable till he was recovered, she still went hunting all day but with just the chestnut mare. It was a Saturday and that poor horse was hunted all day and returned to the stables in a very tired and muddy condition. Any sensible person would have just hunted the half day, but no not her!

At that time I was always taught that you should not pour cold water onto hot horses. The first thing this woman did when she got her horse out of the trailer into the yard, was to get the hose pipe out and try to hose the mud off the horse's legs ! This was a shock to the horse as the water was very cold, and it shied knocking the woman over. I managed to hold the poor animal steady while she continued to play the hose onto the horse's four legs. She did this for about 30 minutes, then told me to finish the grooming, and to also make sure that I got rid of all the mud because the horse would get mud fever if any was left on the horse's skin.

I was horrified and when she had gone into her house, I spent several hours trying to tease out the mud that she had forced further into the horse's hair.

It was virtually impossible to get the horse completely clean of the mud and I had missed some that had been forced into the front elbows - actually they were only specs and were deeply embedded against the horse's skin. In 24 hours those elbows had become sore with the horse moving about its stable . I got her husband, the vet, to have a look at the horse later that day.

He was obviously disgusted with what his wife had caused the horse, and he said he would tell her not to take the chestnut hunting for at least two weeks, and he gave me some ointment to smooth into the wounds and said he would look at the animal in four days time.

On the Monday, the woman told me to get the horse ready for hunting in two days time - she went to the hunt on Saturdays and Wednesdays in the season. I told her what the vet had said and the elbows would not be healed by then, but she snarled back at me to just do as I was told and mind my own business. She said that hunting was a very important social activity for her and she was expected to be seen hunting, as she was the vet's wife ! I thought she was a selfish, cruel cow.

Now that chestnut mare was very nervous about being put into the horse box and it needed at least two people to get it aboard the trailer, as it struggled all the way up the ramp! I was worried for the animal if the woman insisted on taking it to the hunt. I had been working as groom (live- in) for nearly a couple of weeks and I felt I could not work with this woman, as she had no consideration for her two beautiful horses.

The evening before the planned hunt, I approached the woman and asked if she was still determined to attend the hunt the following day. The chestnut was nowhere near healed yet and I told her so. She told me angrily to mind my own business and yes she would be going hunting in the morning ! I said that in which case she would have to box the horse on her own because I would not be there to help her cause her horse more pain. I told her that I would collect my belongings together and leave. About half an hour later while I was packing my things in my room, I could hear loud arguments down stairs between the woman and her vet husband.

I did leave that evening before tea time - my boyfriend (later to be my hubby) picked me up and took me back to my parents' home.

I heard that she had gone hunting and the horse had come back lame and with open wounds in its elbows. Not sure how she managed to get the horse into the horse box but maybe she got somebody from the village to help her.

I also heard several months later that her husband had kicked her out and a divorce happened after that. I have never met anybody as selfish as that woman.

So yes, hunting people are mostly very selfish and I, me, my ! A lot of them are also very cruel.

So with attitudes like that, what chance has the fox got of being protected from people hell-bent on self gratification through hunting foxes and allowing them to be killed by savagery from hounds - agonisingly.

Deer hunting with hounds was possibly more cruel because they would run the deer to exhaustion before it was killed by the hounds.

Hunting foxes or deer with hounds doesn't sit easily at all with me.

Re: Brian May and Foxhunting

Gosh what an awful women !
Its does not surprise me at all.
Well done Gilly for sticking up for your principles.