Fox Hunting Essay, Research Paper
Fox hunting and the issues surrounding it is a very important topic for the whole of Great Britain especially at this precise moment in time as the British government are discussing weather or not to ban this controversial sport . Within this essay I shall be discussing the factors and opinions and views of people opposing and supporting a ban in hunting with hounds in the British countryside. Everybody in the country has an opinion weather fox hunting should be banned or not and I shall be asking a range of people living in my area what their views are and including them in this essay.
Firstly I shall be looking into the arguments that are against the use of hounds to hunt foxes and that are supporting the ban in this sport . The main argument that a person would put across who was in favor of a ban would be the cruelty to the fox that is being hunted. Personally the thought of a fox being ripped apart by a pack of blood thirsty hounds distresses me and a large proportion of this country. According to the RSPCA which I feel is a rather bias source hunting foxes using hounds is more damaging to the fox than conventional hunting methods. For example shooting or poisoning the fox to cut down on fox numbers. The fox goes through immense stress as it is found to be killed by the hounds. People who are for fox hunting say that they harm farm animals and crops. But according to the RSPCA the fox is a rather harmless animal and the animals that it does kill on the farm are relatively weak animals and therefore are not much good to the farmer because the fox doesn t want to waste energy chasing lambs and healthy animals as they only account for 1% of lamb deaths on farms. Another argument would be that foxes are very good pest killers such as mice and other rodents which tend to destroy crops on farms. They are also very good at cleaning after humans by eating human rubbish so in a way they clean up the surrounding area. During a fox hunt the fox that is being hunted suffers huge amounts of stress as usually the fox is on the run for up to two to three hours. Sometimes foxes are killed by suffocation with having large amounts of soil in their lungs as they sometimes dig for hours to try and escape from the pack of hounds.
Over 70% of the countries most powerful people the Members of Parliament, share the views of most of the population of the United Kingdom. As recently the MPs voted to ban fox hunting in this country by a overwhelming majority. This ban will come into force after it faces confrontation with the Lords. This was a very significant vote as it could change the face of our countryside forever (see newspaper article).
There are also many arguments in favor of hunting with hounds these are mainly expressed by people who actually do fox hunting themselves and earn a living around the sport . The biggest argument is that it creates large amounts of jobs for people living in both rural and urban areas. These include stable owners and manufacturers of hunting equipment such as saddles and helmets. An example of this would be Sarah Clark who owns a stable in North Leistershire who 90% of the horses she looks after participate in fox hunting. If it should be banned this would mean that she would loose he business and her livelihood and she would have to start again in life. There are many other examples of the drastic effects on peoples lives if fox hunting was to be banned across the country. Many businesses could go bankrupt and this could disrupt the local economy. Another argument would be if a ban was to be enforced the some of horses that partake in fox hunting may have to be put down as there would be no use for them anymore. almost all farmers across the country see the humble British fox to be a pest therefore they wish to cut down on numbers to protect their farms and livelihoods. Foxes are said to have and use their capabilities to kill many different farm animals such as pigs and sheep. Also as they roam around farmland they tend to damage crops on their way round. Both of these factors loose vast amounts of money for the owners of the farm. And because the countries farming industry is declining quite dramatically because it is loosing large amounts of money and this is not helped by the fox killing animals and crops which looses the farm even more money. There are many different organizations that are campaigning to keep fox hunting a way of life. An example of this would be the LCSA (Leave Country Sports Alone). They go on many protests to keep fox hunting legal and put huge pressure on the government not to ban the activity.
To find out what people living in my local area thought about the proposed ban of fox hunting I decided to conduct a survey to see if people were for or against a ban of this controversial sport . I posed the question To what extent to you support or oppose a ban on hunting with dogs in Britain ? These were my results:
As you can see by a overwhelming majority 63% of the residents of my area would like to see hunting with dogs banned in this country. This is compared to 24% who would like to see hunting continuing for many years to come. These results may be bias though as I live in a largely urban area people living near to me mostly will not have much to do with fox hunting. Therefore the results may be bias tawards the ban of hunting with hounds. These results basically in my opinion show what the whole of the country is thinking at this moment, that fox hunting is a very crewel activity and because of this it should be banned.
I expect that there will be a battle between the fox and the fox hunters for many years to come. As if a ban is enforced and it becomes illegal, there will be huge protests from hunters and people connected to the activity for many years to come as it will effect their lives hugely.
Also if a ban does come into play the farmers and landowners will probably come up with new methods of hunting the fox to protect their land. These new methods may be even crueler than the traditional hunting with hounds. This could create a huge saga as if they find a crueler method of hunting this would results in protests from organisations such as the RSPCA and this would but huge pressure on the government and then we could go through the same dilemma weather or not to ban the new form of hunting.
Currently I am in two minds about weather this country pursuit should become illegal in this country or not. It is a very difficult subject to select a definite answer because there are so many arguments for and against the activity. But personally I am for the argument of the fox as I think that it is extremely crewel. As the fox is a beautiful creature and it is a traditional part of both rural and urban Britain and it should be left alone to get on with their lives. But also the I would not like to see peoples livelihoods destroyed as I think this would be very sad but I feel if an eventual ban was to be enforced the government should compensate these people to prevent more outcries and bury the hatchet on fox hunting forever. It would also leave the government to worry about more important things on their agenda such as children and drugs and also bringing crime levels down. Which would help the country as a whole.