The following writing has been reproduced from the website of the League Against Cruel Sports. It was 
written by Steve Taylor, Head of Campaigns And Communications of The League Against Cruel Sports charity on 16 June, 2011 : 09:55
Quite an astonishing column in this week’s Countryman’s Weekly by Tim Bonner of ‘The Hunting Office’ (whatever that is).
Bonner says that “antis” will never quite understand the respect that hunters have for the fox. Yes, you read that right. The respect they have for the animal they have spent years pursuing and ripping to bits. Respect for their quarry so great that when it wins by going to ground, they send in a bunch of hairy knuckled weirdos to dig him out. Such respect that they create artificial earths in which he can live until they decide they want to hunt him.
But that’s not all. The best bit of his article goes on (and on and on) about how fox hunting is a fantastic form of population management and that without hunts taking foxes, we’d be over-run with Charles and his friends.
One has to ask, if hunts are all hunting within the law – as Bonner and his mates will tell you they are – then how come we’re not over-run?
If hunting’s about population control, why the articifical earths? Why the blocked earths?
Above all else, if it’s about population control, why on earth did the bloodsports lobby demonstrate this to the Burns Inquiry when asked? The following is an extract from our report, Hunting with Dogs: Past, Present but No Future published last September:
“The Countryside Alliance in answer to the question, what evidence is there about the consequences for agriculture and pest control if hunting with dogs was banned completely? provided no evidence to the Burns Inquiry that there is a genuine need to control the abundance of foxes for reasons of wildlife management or pest control.”
The Burns Inquiry also heard from hunters about the numbers of foxes they kill. The number in relation to the overall fox population is very small and far more are thought to be killed on the roads. As a form of pest control, fox hunting is hugely ineffective and massively expensive.
So, Tim, what’s your next argument?
The photograph of the fox cub orphan is with the kind permission of The Wildlife Aid Foundation and they own the copyright. Their rescue centre will be holding their Open Day for much needed funds to care for rescued wildlife on the 19th June 2011 in Leatherhead, Surrey.
