INTRODUCTION

This site is a personal view and may not coincide with the views of organisations which support Foxhunting. It is intended to assist the fight to save/restore Hunting in the UK. Click on the menu links to see more detail about  how the Ban happened, about Hunting itself , about the case for restoring Hunting and about how you can help. This site was started as http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/foxman in 1995 although the counter was reset to zero in 2000. It was updated every time there was a development in the fight to save Hunting, even a small change. It will continue the same way as the fight to restore Hunting develops. I wish to close down my dspace as soon as possible. Please amend your favourites to http://www.foxmanonline.org.uk) . 

APPEALS

Foxman hopes that this  site will be referred  to by all those involved in any type of action concerned with Fox Hunting.  In particular we hope that  people will refrain from taking a view  on Foxhunting until they have learned about it.  This site should help  and another excellent  source is at http://www.countryside-alliance.org/cfh/huntingtt/index.html

Those who  follow the  "Country  Way of Life"  won against Mr Foster  (the last  completed attempt at a ban) by  the concerted actions of all of us. Our concerted  actions WON AGAIN in leading the Government to introduce an Inquiry before framing their proposed legislation.  Concerted  action can  get the ban repealed and Fox Hunting handled in a truly Democratic,  rather than in a Dictatorial,  manner. The  Countryside  Alliance will be continuing to organise  many campaigns,  marches, protests etc.

Some Pleas

• I have listened to all the debates  in the House  of Commons  about banning  Foxhunting, inter alia.  They were characterised, on both  sides of  the argument, by a lamentable  lack of knowledge  of the subject  and by a  ludicrous level of emotion. There can  be no confidence  that The  House has come to  a just decision  unless there  is confidence that MPs have studied the subject  thoroughly  before voting on a ban.  I am delighted  that The Government allowed  foxes and all those  involved  in Foxhunting the courtesy of a proper  government  sponsored inquiry   "The Burns Inquiry" . After  all Clement Attlee's Labour Government instigated such an inquiry in 1949 which did not  recommend  a ban. Parliament followed this recommendation. However events leading up to the ban reached such a high level of emotion  that prejudice  against hunting  built up  in MPs, The Public and The  Media to the extent that Parliament ignored  the favourable (to hunting) aspects  of The Burns  Report.
• When Fox Hunting returns to Parliament, (as it will because logic and good sense will prevail in the end):
  
   MPs please  study The Burns Report carefully  and in detail.
  
   Please  study the subject  before "preaching " against, or in favour,  of Foxhunting. 
  
   Please  be more tolerant all round; "Rurals" of our "Urban  Sub-Culture" and vice-versa.
  
   Both  sides please  "cool it"  so that the level  of emotion  is reduced  and Fox Hunting can be viewed  logically,  rather than emotively. 

Why  a site on Foxhunting?

The case against Foxhunting seems to me  to be based on emotion.  Therefore, I would like to put before  those who bother to  visit this  site a few of the logical reasons why  I support Foxhunting.  I am encouraged to do this by the fact  that over several years  four senior "officers" of the League  against Cruel Sports have  resigned from this well  meaning but misguided  organisation  after learning  a lot about  hunting. Eventually,  they became convinced  that logic  supported  the case for  hunting as  preferable  to other methods  of controlling  numbers. I  feel, therefore,  that all you  Surfers deserve to be given the facts. You can then come to a  logical view  on this contentious  subject. 

ERRORS IN THE PROPAGANDA  AGAINST FOX HUNTING

WHY  IT IS NOT CRUEL

 One "anti-advert" alleges that "the stress and exertion of  the chase is traumatic beyond imagination". In fact foxes  are conditioned to being chased.  Two British zoologists at the University  of Nottingham,  (Chris Barnard, professor  of animal behaviour  and Jane Hurst,  a behavioural ecologist) back up observations that foxes  seem not to anticipate death and  appear not  to be suffering while being  chased. They  found that:

• Animals  who are hunted regularly (e.g. foxes) may well be conditioned  to regard the stress of being hunted as  normal.
• Do not  confuse stress with  suffering. 
  Stress is  a physical  condition.  Suffering is a mental  condition.  The former does not inevitably cause the  latter. A marathon runner is  highly stressed but is not suffering  unless his  stress exceeds  anything  that he has experienced  previously  and has not, therefore,  mentally  adapted himself  to cope with. Stress produces adrenalin  and endorphins  which produce exhilaration to mask  some of the stress.  Judgements  in respect  of animals  about the balance  between pain and exhilaration (both caused by a stress) are very difficult  and human  analogies are unlikely to be reliable.
• The fact that foxes are fully  in control  of their  wits when being hunted is shown by the following examples:- they know  how much scent they leave, how to mask  it by running through  ground fouled  by cattle etc. or  water and how to use the wind.  Also other tactics  too numerous  to discuss  here. They  use these  tactics methodically while being  chased.
• An animal  may experience  the subjective  state of "fear", but that just tells it to  run, just as "hunger"  tells it to  eat. Fear and hunger only lead  to suffering  when the  animal's  adaptive  responses  fail to assuage  them. Thus suffering  is triggered  when the world  frustrates  an animal's adaptive drives (e.g.  to flee when chased). This subtle distinction  is a crucial  one that  has been neglected  byanimal  welfare campaigners  weak on evolutionary theory.

Other "anti-adverts" allege that  a fox caught  by hounds has a slow agonising  death. Many clips of "kills" show that  under the pack of hounds a fox dies in seconds otherwise"he"  escapes unhurt.

 Much propaganda alleges that other methods  of killing  foxes are "better".  300 Veterinary  Surgeons, Research Workers etc. disagree  because all  fail at least one of these tests:

• Effective  and without unacceptable costs or impracticalities of application,
• Able and willing  to be limited so that  it does not decimate the fox  population,
• Safe for humans and domestic animals,
• Does  not tend  to degrade  the genetic adaptation of rural foxes to their natural  environment,
• Relatively  safe for  other wild  animals,
• Does not lead to  a slow death  or a relatively long period  of suffering  (e.g. when  frustrated  from flight by being trapped  in a cage).
• For  further details  please see http://www.vets-for-hunting.org.uk/ and http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/foxman/suffering.htm

WHY  IT HAS USEFUL PURPOSES

Foxes have to be culled to protect farmers/landowners animal possessions  against predation.The Government Bill reluctantly acknowledges this; however, they state that it is necessary  in only a  few areas to be decided  by a National Registrar. But a risk of predation  exists throughout most of the  UK and, whatever  the Government rules, farmers/landowners  will seldom be prepared  to accept it without attempting to reduce  it by culling foxes. The Commons is attempting to rule that culling must be achieved  by methods  it rules to be less cruel  than Foxhunting.  However, there  are very few circumstances  where other methods would  be less cruel  in all instances. Please see http://www.vets-for-hunting.co.uk and http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/foxman/suffering.htm

Want to  chat?

I propose  "Foxhunters On Line". A  great discussion  group.  
Email  them to join  in a worldwide  discussion  of everything to do with Foxhunting. 

Want to debate? 

A sensible and moderated  forum for debate is  at the  UK Hunting  Forum. 

Want to comment?

Email  me. Plese  help me to  sort you out  from the Spam by including  the word Foxhunting in the subject of your eMail. I will try and answer all but abusive  mail. 

Want to help save Hunting?

Please go to the page entitled “Action Please”.

IN THE END THE ARGUMENT BOILS DOWN TO THE WISDOM  OF RESTRICTING  LIBERTY AND LIVELIHOODS  BY DELIBERATELY ERASING PART OF THE CULTURE OF THE UK.

GOOD HUNTING