Twin girls injured in suspected fox attack

[julado]

Would a wild animal enter a property and go looking about the place in the first instance?????

 

Surely foxes are frightened of humans....I am a bit lost as to how this has happened.

[Greybeard]

 

Foxes do not attack children. - They're not pack animals and children are far too dangerous for a single fox to attack.

 

Unless these children's injuries are found to have some other cause it appears that foxes do attack children, albeit very rarely; and a nine month old baby presents little threat to a fox.

[boyfriday]

No rifleman can guarantee to kill a fox, plus they are mainly nocturnal animals, which makes them even harder to hunt.

So the Hunts go out at night??

If a fox was shot, it may spend hours dying from blood loss or even from more painful infections caused by the wound.

Any dipstick can lay a baited trap near fresh foxholes, and revisit it.

You would be more open if you said, you wanted more painful and less effective methods of killing foxes because of your prejudices against those who ride horses in order to hunt them.

All those huntsmen motivated solely to control the fox population, it's a shame they dont all go down to B&Q and buy an animal trap each, set it and sit by it eating cheese & Branston sandwiches, supping warm beer, and chatting amiably about preserving the England's wonderful countryside.

[KenH]

I have hunted foxes and take no pleasure in killing a living animal. But it has to be done, their numbers need to be controlled and hunting with hounds is agreed by the national association of veterinary surgeons as the most humane method of dispatch. Your opinion is ill informed at best.

 

Err, well not really!

 

There is no "National Association of Veterinary Surgeons". The RCVS is the official body and they have attempted to stay neutral other than to say that any vet found guilty of hunting after the ban would be struck off.

 

You are probably thinking of a minority body, called something like "vets for hunting", who, as their rather obvious title suggests, are involved in the industry and so support it.

[DragonofAna]

I will refer you to my previous post in association to the matter:

 

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=6028872&highlight=%27most+humane%27#post6028872

 

Hardly conclusive evidence that killing foxes by the hunt is the most humane way.

[Greybeard]

Would a wild animal enter a property and go looking about the place in the first instance?????

 

Surely foxes are frightened of humans....I am a bit lost as to how this has happened.

 

Quite a few people actually put food out for urban foxes - just for the 'thrill' of seeing them. Urban foxes are much more familiar with people than their country cousins, my granddaughter sees foxes in her garden quite regularly and they do come right up to the back door sniffing around.

[boyfriday]

No rifleman can guarantee to kill a fox, plus they are mainly nocturnal animals, which makes them even harder to hunt.

 

If a fox was shot, it may spend hours dying from blood loss or even from more painful infections caused by the wound.

 

You would be more open if you said, you wanted more painful and less effective methods of killing foxes because of your prejudices against those who ride horses in order to hunt them.

 

This is disingenuous, as Dragonofana pointed out, if you asked the fox, he'd probably accept the shooting execution method rather than being chased to death and then being ripped apart by a pack of dogs in a frenzy.

[Berberis]

Hardly conclusive evidence that killing foxes by the hunt is the most humane way.

 

What more do you want, Basil Brush backing hunting with dogs? This is the opinion of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. The very people who deal with animal welfare across the country on a daily basis. Their study and published paper took into account 30 countries. How is this not conclusive in your view

[Berberis]

This is disingenuous, as Dragonofana pointed out, if you asked the fox, he'd probably accept the shooting execution method rather than being chased to death and then being ripped apart by a pack of dogs in a frenzy.

 

And when you find a fox that can elaborate on his/her views on the matter we can take that into account, but until then we have only the experts opinion, and that opinion is that hunting with hounds is the most humane method of dispatching a fox.

[hels1977]

No rifleman can guarantee to kill a fox, plus they are mainly nocturnal animals, which makes them even harder to hunt.

 

If a fox was shot, it may spend hours dying from blood loss or even from more painful infections caused by the wound.

 

You would be more open if you said, you wanted more painful and less effective methods of killing foxes because of your prejudices against those who ride horses in order to hunt them.

 

A skilled one can - and a damn sight faster than some hunt. I do not have prejudices against hunting - I just happen to think it's compeltely ridiculous and has absolutely no effect on the population of foxes. Try not to put words in people's mouths.

 

In my view, the whole "oh it's pest control" is complete rubbish. Some questions for you... do hunts known the population of foxes on the land before and after a hunt? Where is this documented? Is there any long term evidence that it controls the population? Again - show me some proof. At least a controlled cull by shooting is done in such a way that you know how many are to be killed and where - there's some science behind it.