Fox Hunting - The Right of the People.

Fox Hunting – The Right of the People

-Andrew Philp-

Fox Hunting to many people, mainly those living in our towns and cities, is considered nothing more than a cruel blood sport which should play no part in the lives of civilised people and be banned immediately. I feel that this is a very narrow and selfish point of view, which they have based purely on one aspect of fox hunting alone. Those who criticise hunting would be wise to make an effort to look at the whole picture.

The earliest known attempt to hunt a fox with hounds was in Norfolk in 1534, where a farmer used his dogs in an attempt to catch a fox. Most hunts believed it to be beneath their status to hunt "vermin" and continued mostly, to hunt deer until the 1830s. By the late 19th century, foxhunting was probably at it is most popular. This is thought to be because railways gave easy access to the countryside for people who would otherwise be stuck in the towns and cities. The rising middle-classes that wished to improve their social standing ensured that hunting became further expanded. It opened a whole New World for many town and city dwellers.

One of my main reasons why I am against the banning of fox hunting is because so many peoples livelihoods depend on the income that is generated by their livestock. Foxes kill and destroy considerable numbers of their sheep and chicken populations. According to figures published recently by the National Farmers’ Union, their members can suffer losses, which can equate to as much as six percent of their annual revenue. If fox hunting was to stop, I believe this figure would increase by quite a substantial amount. This would have a negative effect not only for the farmer, but ...