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Join the debate, add
your comments
| Steve
, Ringwood |
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Comment:
MOST OF THE COMMENTS ON THE THIS HAVE BEEN FROM CITY DWELLERS.
WHAT
I WANT TO KNOW DO THEY WEAR LEATHER COATS,SHOES OR ANYTHING
MADE OF COW HIDES.
HOW
MANY OF THEM HAVE PUT DOWN MOUSE TRAPS OR POISON FOR RATS.I
WISH THEY WOULD WORRY MORE ABOUT STATE OF THE POSSIBLITY
OF US GOING TO WAR AND THE LOSS OF OUR BOYS & GIRLS OUT
THERE.
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| Lizzie,
Southampton |
| Comment:
hunting with dogs is evil i am only 13 but i know the difference
between right and wrong and i know that hunting with dogs
is VERY wrong |
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| The
Agister's view is interesting to say the least. Particularly
his comment on the benifet of hunting moving animals about
the forest. This was one of the very reasons that the Verderers
and some foresters did not want Draghunting on the Forest.
The responsability of removing deadstock should not rely on
good will but should be put on an official basis and if need
be paid for by government via the Verderers at the going rate.
My hounds are fed a propriety feed as it is far too costly
to run a nacker service. |
| Michael
Thomas, Master of Draghounds, Ringwood |
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I
do not think Fox Hunting should be banned because it has been
a tradition in the forest and we do not know the changes to
the forest that banning fox hunting would cause. When the Buck
Hounds were forced to stop hunting, do you know that a whole
herd of deer has to be rounded up and shot. I did not witness
this, but what is crueller, shooting a whole herd of deer, or
hunt them, where only the old and week would be killed? The
deer have to be culled!
Also the same happens to colts. The forest has to be managed
and colts grow into stallions and we cannot have too many on
the forest, so the colts are rounded up and if they are not
brought, they have to be slaughtered. People are too quick to
want to ban things in this country and not think of the outcome.
The forest cannot sustain a vast amount of animals and that
is why we have the forest because of all the people that have
hunted and worked on it for years and years and we should appreciate
the hard work and efforts they have achieved for us to have
a forest at all. |
| Debbie
Allan, New Milton |
| WHY
DO BOTH SIDES KEEP BRUSHING THE ANSWER UNDER THE CARPET? Drag
hunting would please both sides. No job losses. No slaughter
through cruelty. End of argument! Are both sides so eager to
perpetuate the debate? To what ends? |
| Cliff
Brown, Eastleigh |
| A
question for Sheila Reed....I am perplexed. If foxes are so
dangerous why do they use dogs to hunt them down? ...........Just
curious.... |
| Gail
Gibbons, Waterlooville |
Killing
for fun ....How sad is that. I was bitten once by a small dog
- it was like having your hand crushed in a vice.
Huntsmen should be hunted by their own dogs - maybe they would
not be so keen to inflict such suffering in future. Alternatively
they could just get a life! |
| Paul
Judd, Croydon |
Animals
are hunted and killed by man throughout the entire world - from
France to USA, Australia to Japan - the UK is the only country
where some (not all) people feel they have the right to stop
other peoples livelihoods and leisure time activities just because
they personally don't like whats going on. It will not stop
at hunting - shooting and fishing will soon follow. Fishing
especially is one of the most popular leisure activities in
this country, enjoyed by all strata of society (so is hunting).
If only all the venom and resources directed against people
on horses chasing foxes could be directed against child cruelty,
pornography, drug related crime and the real cruelty inflicted
on so called 'pets' in homes up and down the country. The ordinary
European and American cannot believe such time and money is
wasted here on trying to save one small animal who would probably
have been exterminated long ago like the wolf and buffalo if
not for "hunting". |
| Felicity
Young, Lymington |
Everyone
in the "sport" is fully aware that Drag Hunting could take the
place of fox hunting without change or job losses. Further to
this hounds could be led away from hazards like Railways, main
roads and domestic stock/pets. Safer for all concerned.The only
difference would be the lack of a kill (but the hunt will say
this isn't why they do it)oh ..and the exclusivity.
The New Forest drag hunt has started very well. Remember- no
job losses, no "OUT" season, no protesters, so why not? If the
hunt whish to organise shooting parties to "Control" foxes,
I'm sure they wouldn't be short of volunteers, it would show
that they DID realise that times change and they could too..and
survive. |
| Cliff
Brown, Eastleigh |
| Could
the commentator from Kansas note that there is mounted hunting
in the States. And the woman from Southampton is wrong in thinking
this is a 'rich' man's sport. I have a horse which i work full
time to be able to afford with no new cars or nice holidays.
And I do hunt occasionally, there's no way you could call me
rich! Also hunting has a 'season' that is outside of the breeding
season. Because foxes are controlled through natural selection,
the old or sick are the ones most likely to be caught, and the
ones that are fit and strong are dispersed away from the area
that they have been causing trouble. In this way the species
is preserved. No hunter wants to erridicate all foxes, just
control the numbers. I hope to see all you pro-hunting lot at
the Countryside March in September. |
| Sacha
Shaw, Ferndown |
| If
this were a poor man's sport, it would have been banned years
ago. It's barbaric and should be stopped! |
| John
Lloyd, Southampton |
The
hunting fraternity will proclaim that they do not do it for
pleasure but to reduce "vermin". So, why then is there a "season"?
Surely reduction of vermin would be a continuous task? Having
been to many hunts (as a former member of the HSA - I'm too
old to run fast enough now!)
I can assure anyone that the ONLY reason is for pleasure and
the pleasure of killing at that, one can see it on their faces
at the kill, and it is not a pretty sight! |
| Patrick
O'Neill, Eastleigh |
| Don't
ban fox hunting. People that say to ban it have twisted minds
and only select out the cruel parts. Read the other stuff! Don't
ban it! |
| Milipede,
Southampton |
| The
bill for the banning of hunting with hounds contains legal specifics
which would place law abiding, tax paying citizens who own dogs
at risk from prosecution. Obviously Jo Public is unaware that
foxes spread Toxacariasis, (which can blind) through their feaces
and unlike domestic dogs are not wormed and run freely all over
suburbia. So while the responsible dog owner is abused and restricted
from open spaces, the fox runs free, vermin. |
| Sheila
Reed, Winchester |
Fox
Hunting most definitely should be banned. Hunting with a pack
of dogs is sick. Why can't they come out of the middle ages
when it was the practice of the sick so called upper classes
to chase defenceless predators with a pack of hounds. When caught
would be torn to shreds.
If they want to protect their chickens why not fence them in.
The only vermin that should be destroyed by hunting are the
hunters themselves. What a sad sick country we live in. |
| D
Morgan, Salisbury |
Its
part of our heritage? our culture? Really... Have we not advanced
and improved ourselves - look around you are we still living
in the middle ages? NO!
This is a blatant excuse for pyschopaths with a desire to kill
and plunder in one of the cruelest and most offensive of manners.
If you want to release stress and tension there are far better
ways of doing it. Furthermore hunting is the skill and silent
tracking plus quick and painless death of an animal not the
reckless chasing and hysteria that is created as is common with
fox hunting...This sick perverse idea of a so called sport MUST
BE BANNED - It's not a sport - find something more productive
to do with your time! |
| Gail
Gibbons, Waterlooville |
Thank
god, foxhunting isn't done or even thought of in our country.
But in the English countryside, people who foxhunt are lacking
common sense. Every English country resident thinks they're
monsters. They are NOT! They are wild animals that are trying
to thrive on their own. Simply clashing the fox's territory
with human society to kill it won't solve the problem. Many
English farmers are ignorant to know this fact, but many biologists
have studied wolves, foxes, and coyotes and it is a stated fact
that wild canids have an in-built method of population control
that we as humans merely get.
In
my opinion...FOXHUNTING SHOULD BE BANNED IN THE UK! It is a
rather odd and out dated tradition that has no room in the 21st
century.
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| Matt
, Kansas City |
Although
I live in an urban area I am an Equine student. When I began
to study horses and the rural industry I was against Fox Hunting.
This is because I had only seen the 'towny' view of things.
In cities foxes do not hunt lambs and chickens but feed from
dustbins. They can cause harm to domestic pets and if hunting
were to be banned, the number of foxes would increase and overtake
the land.
Now I understand about the importance of hunting for the country
and also the equine industry, I would not allow it to be banned.
It will be interesting to see what happens in Scotland and the
fate all of Britain may be driven to. A last thought is that
the welfare of the fox will suffer if hunting is banned. Whereas
now if there are many fox attacks more hunting takes place,
if it was banned each farmer woud shoot a fox even if it was
the same fox which attacked two farms. If I were a fox I would
rather die quickly than be shot, become gangrenous, and starve
because I couldn't hunt. |
| Alexa
Mason, Portsmouth |
| As
you say, the New Forest has been a hunting ground for 900 years.
I would have it as a guess that the hunting & hunting fraturnity
have ensured that a viable & renewable balance of nature have
seen to this long co-exsistance. It is impossible for a diverse
expance of wildlife to exist if the main preditors are not controlled.
As much as I respect all animals; to lose sight of this would
undermine another lesser down the pecking order. |
| Kate
Nicholson, Ambleside |
| Although
I do not hunt I feel that so much life and vitality of the Forest
depends indirectly on Hunting that it should continue. To ban
it would ultimately change radically the nature of the New Forest,
which was established and owes it very existence to the hunting
of wild animals. |
| Peter
Murphy, Lyndhurst |
Foxhunting
should NEVER be banned. It provides jobs for rural communities
as well as an effective method of pest control. Foxes are a
danger to livestock - they carry disease, are indiscriminate
killers and kill far much more than they actually need.
If the fox wasn't furry and red and "cute" no-one would bother
about killing it! Or if it killed your pets! Most animal rights
protesters have never even seen the countryside! They just see
some awful pictures and believe everything they are told about
the cruelty etc. I'll bet that they are never shown pictures
of the damage a fox does to lambs and fowl. The government should
concentrate on people who hurt animals for fun, not necessity.
Concentrate on banning the transport of live horses. |
| Jane
German, Preston |
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