Fox Hunting

[Loch not Lock]

David Cameron and his fellow hee-haw Tories wants to bring back fox hunting. Let's turn the clock back to the 1980's and black Maggie.

[Tom Cornwall]

David Cameron and his fellow hee-haw Tories wants to bring back fox hunting. Let's turn the clock back to the 1980's and black Maggie.

what's that mean

[Loch not Lock]

Smug Mr. Cameron is worth £30,000,000 plus so do you seriously think he can have a second thought for us normal, hard working people. He would rather chase a terrified fox and watch it being torn to pieces. Just stick with Labour and ignore the propoganda.

[Loch not Lock]

what's that mean

Do I have to simplify it for you, Tom?

[Kevin Milkins]

Smug Mr. Cameron is worth £30,000,000 plus so do you seriously think he can have a second thought for us normal, hard working people. He would rather chase a terrified fox and watch it being torn to pieces. Just stick with Labour and ignore the propoganda.

I think he would prefer to chase a terrified labour voter and have him torn to pieces, but realises that he may not get away with that, so the poor old fox will just have to do for now.

[BINBOB]

Smug Mr. Cameron is worth £30,000,000 plus so do you seriously think he can have a second thought for us normal, hard working people. He would rather chase a terrified fox and watch it being torn to pieces. Just stick with Labour and ignore the propoganda.

Ditto...............

[davie]

New Liebour voters normal - must be a joke surely ?.
Now if you had said abnormal that might be nearer the mark.

[tonkatojo]

Ditto...............

Were you watching "ghost" in the last couple of weeks BB ?.

But seriously you didn't think or expect anything else from the con merchants, history has it written down, they only ever look after their own rich mob/mafia, and con the gullible with promises of cake but they receive crumbs if they'r lucky.

[Humerous Vegetable]

This will be good news for our local squire John Thurso who, on the infrequent occasions he actually attends parliament, seems to have spent most of his time (and our money) voting against the abolition of hunting. He even voted to exclude members of the House of Lords from complying with the new law. A real man of the people then.

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?...&house=commons

[BINBOB]

This will be good news for our local squire John Thurso who, on the infrequent occasions he actually attends parliament, seems to have spent most of his time (and our money) voting against the abolition of hunting. He even voted to exclude members of the House of Lords from complying with the new law. A real man of the people then.

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?...&house=commons

Thanks for that....very interesting indeed!!!POWER TO THE FOX!!

[rich]

Fox hunting must be preserved at all costs. I have reached this conclusion after reading the Adventures of an Irish RM by Somerville and Ross. Please note this has nothing to do with the useless TV adaptation of a few years back. (Nearly as bad as the Monarch of the Glen!) So get reading, Orgers!
By the way, did someone on the the Org recently post as a topic of thoughtful discussion "What color are your socks?"
Have mercy please on my elderly cardiovascular system - the excitement is liable to kill me!

[Kathy@watten]

There has never been a fox hunt in Caithness, and down south where it has been, is where we have developed the brave skillfull riders who compete at the highest levels, the superb education for our horses and the day out in the country to boot, the killing of the fox is not the main aim of these sporting pursuits, they are a way of life and an integral part of british heritage enjoyed by farmers, kids from pony clubs and yes a few toffs. Removing fox hunting would lead to the death of a fabulous breed of dog which has been developed over hundreds of years, the loss of the heavy hunter horses as without hunting they prove too costly to keep and we would also lose a social scene for country folk. It truly is no worse as a sport than fishing, motor sport (think of the moths you kill doing this!) or showing of dogs etc. As foxes tend to hunt during darkening hours the chances of a healthy fox being found out and about during a hunt is scarce and is a good way to thin out the weaker or old foxes before they wander onto the road with an unsure outcome. At least with the hunt they will be killed outright by the marksman under current law.

[Leanne]

I am not going to comment one way or the other on the act of hunting itself.

But...

Foxes now are being shot indiscriminately for fear of a population explosion. Foxes may soon become an endangered species due to the very law that was put in place to protect them

[Humerous Vegetable]

There has never been a fox hunt in Caithness, and down south where it has been, is where we have developed the brave skillfull riders who compete at the highest levels, the superb education for our horses and the day out in the country to boot, the killing of the fox is not the main aim of these sporting pursuits, they are a way of life and an integral part of british heritage enjoyed by farmers, kids from pony clubs and yes a few toffs. Removing fox hunting would lead to the death of a fabulous breed of dog which has been developed over hundreds of years, the loss of the heavy hunter horses as without hunting they prove too costly to keep and we would also lose a social scene for country folk. It truly is no worse as a sport than fishing, motor sport (think of the moths you kill doing this!) or showing of dogs etc. As foxes tend to hunt during darkening hours the chances of a healthy fox being found out and about during a hunt is scarce and is a good way to thin out the weaker or old foxes before they wander onto the road with an unsure outcome. At least with the hunt they will be killed outright by the marksman under current law.

I don't really understand your post. How does sitting on a horse make you "brave"? Bravery is something shown by soldiers fighting militants in Afganistan, or firefighters going into a burning building to rescue trapped people, surely? "Removing" fox hunting (which has already happened by the way) has not lead to the death of foxhounds at all, according to the Kennel Club website anyway.
You say that hunting is no worse than showing dogs. I don't remember anything being ripped to death at the last dog show I attended. Maybe the judges were a bit nervous though.
Oscar Wilde had it right when he said that foxhunting was "The unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible".

[Kathy@watten]

You seem to have picked me up wrongly re dog showing I was refering to cruelty scales, having seen the discarded puppies that have not made the grade, the parading of inbred disease prone dogs (this extends to any showing) Of course within this there are some very credible breeders and showers too. Surely this is as bad or equal in "cruelty" or are animals all worth different treatment? What one person considers good treatment may at times be detrimental to the animal, think of all the obese pets killed by "kindness" the under stimulated household pets couped up for 20 + hours a day??
The bravery refered to was that of the rider and horses who tackle cross country obstacles at speed, think of our fantastic record in eventing on a world level, think the fantastic grounding the horses get hunting learning to look after themselves and go forth boldly and same for the riders. I cannot draw parables to the men and women fighting in the wars of this world but in their field these equestrians are brave. I am an animal lover and have pets but also eat meat and eggs and drink milk...does that make me a hypocrite?

[rich]

Good grief, humorous vegetable, use your imagination!
Imagine clambering aboard your faithful mount (step ladders will be provided for beginners)feeling those hot equine flanks between your thighs, quaffing a stirup cup full of Old Pultney, and then a whimper (the horse, not you HV) a canter and you are off! Well not quite, you are still on but you get my drift. And then hurtling over flagstone fences (a unique Caithness obstacle) through bogs and over peat hags (I am not clear what a peat hag is - but we've got her- and wont it make a spledndid front page for the Org news, with a close up of the fox who is found in his usual spot, the org garbage bin, chewing through the recyclables. His great great grandpa, with true fox cunning made the flit from the bogs years ago and the population followed his example.
There is a solution to the Watten urban fox.
Why not import a couple of the wolves that I understand will soon be introduced to Sutherlandshire.

[Humerous Vegetable]

Good grief, humorous vegetable, use your imagination!
Imagine clambering aboard your faithful mount (step ladders will be provided for beginners)feeling those hot equine flanks between your thighs, quaffing a stirup cup full of Old Pultney, and then a whimper (the horse, not you HV) a canter and you are off! Well not quite, you are still on but you get my drift. And then hurtling over flagstone fences (a unique Caithness obstacle) through bogs and over peat hags (I am not clear what a peat hag is - but we've got her- and wont it make a spledndid front page for the Org news, with a close up of the fox who is found in his usual spot, the org garbage bin, chewing through the recyclables. His great great grandpa, with true fox cunning made the flit from the bogs years ago and the population followed his example.
There is a solution to the Watten urban fox.
Why not import a couple of the wolves that I understand will soon be introduced to Sutherlandshire.

Somerville & Ross have a lot to answer for. Speaking of hags, Mrs Cadogan is my role model in life. There's no shire in Sutherland, Mr Flurry.

[Kevin Milkins]

Coming from an agricultural back ground, I have had cause to shoot the fox on more than one occasion, but have never enjoyed the thought of hunting on horse back, but each to there own and as long as the animal is dispatched in an humane way, I just used to except that is the way of the country.

A film that I found very heart warming and part of it was made not far from where I lived in Shropshire gives a very different perspective of the fox.

The Belstone Fox (1973)

[Leanne]

Just a quick question from a non-native...

Foxes in England are at pest proportions - I cannot remember a day when I haven't seen several; both in the countryside and the town. I'm yet to see one in Caithness...Where are they all?

[Kathy@watten]

With there being no hunting on horseback in Caithness farmers (and there are lots of them in Caithness) can and do shoot them to protect their livestock. The majority of the foxes you will see in Caithness are strung up on fences as proof of them being shot by the gamekeepers. Many of these foxes are shot at nights by folk in trucks with special lamps. Again not very sporting but it is what happens hence the controlled population.