Hunting can be more 'humane'
IN response to the letter by Sally Morris (Journal, October 15), I for one will be voting for the Conservatives at the next general election, with one reason being that I would welcome the repeal of the Hunting Act.
I have no problem with "Dead foxes having been savaged by hounds left with their guts hanging out", as a dead fox cannot feel anything, and so I cannot see how this amounts to cruelty.
And as for "hares pulled to pieces by dogs" I believe that formal hare coursing is conducted to test two dogs' speed and agility, with the hare often getting away, or, if hunting, for the pot. I think that any hunter would be quite unhappy eating a hare which a dog had previously dismembered!
I credit dogs with having intelligence, which means that I believe that when killing pests, their end is humane, as a dog won't want to get bitten, and will kill quickly.
Controlling these species by other means runs a greater risk of animals being wounded, and escaping to endure a slow death, the use of dogs almost eliminates this risk.
Rash decisions made by an ill-informed minority of "animal lovers" often leads to greater animal cruelty, than hunters would ever do, such as mass releases of mink, from mink farms. I'm sure in such instances the mink are very happy to have their freedom, however the thousands of native fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small mammals are not when attacked and eaten by this species.
I would like to think that, in a predominantly rural county, common sense would prevail and many people would welcome a repeal of the Hunting Act.
Name and address supplied
2 Comments
by Menna, Parkmill
Saturday, October 25 2008, 9:17AM
“This has nothing to do with 'animal lovers', it's to do with moral being. Of course, once the fox is dead it cannot feel pain, but how did it get to that state to have its innards spilled on the floor and sometimes its unborn children? Do not for one minute imply this happens after the kill. I have witnessed a hunt with my own two eyes, and it was THIS particular incident that turned me into an anti. I was appalled by what I saw and to think I believed the rubbish I was told by the tories, the toffs and the media.”
by Mary, Swansea
Friday, October 24 2008, 8:16AM
“Oh do me a favour. Foxes are ripped apart by hounds and hares are oftem torn in two through coursing. I've seen it, it's no myth. The only fiction about hunting was the whole 'nip to the back of the neck' rubbish that hunts used to spout. As for mink - I would imagine anything is preferable to death by electrocution which is the fate of mink on fur farms. Stick that in your indignant pipe.”