I used to do a lot of riding as a teen, my sister was horse mad and roped all the family in - great fun! Our riding school ran drag hunts - normally a rider or a runner from the local cross country club. It worked well and actually was very successful as many riders oppossed to hunting foxy got involved it being a genuinely animal friendly hunt.
However, fox hunting as a means of pest control is terrible.
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I am not in favour of torturing any animal - not even terrorists. In a fox hunt the fox dies very quickly once he is caught. Much more quickly and humanely than if it were to be trapped or shot by less than a marksman.
Having shot foxes and speaking to those who do it for a living I'd disagree - most pest control use .22 and yes if your aim is of it's not a clean kill - but good enough to run over sharpish and dispatch - hit it with a .308 (normally used for deer hunting) if you hit foxy anywhere on it's body it's dead! And guess what 'junior' pest control men are usually given a .308 until thier aim is spot on enough for a clean kill with a .22 .
One I'd introduce is a ban on councils / public bodies / insurers etc using H&S as an excuse to ban or curtail events when it's actually another often unrelated reason - I'm jacked off with idiots bringing my profession into disrepute !

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