“Rats are full of diseases, foxes are not. They can carry rabies but the last case of rabies in this country was in 1922.

WE used to have a jack russell to control rats, they kill them very quickly by breaking their necks. They certainly don't hunt them down for miles until they're exhausted, then rip them apart.

Foxes generally don't attack dogs, even smaller ones. They would act in self defence if attacked though.

Dogs kill sheep and foxes get the blame. Foxes do take lambs and will attack a ewe that's giving birth or one that is very sick.

You can buy electric fences to protect your poultry, much cheaper than keeping a horse and all the kit needed to hunt foxes; and as Sarah points out, hunting foxes with hounds is very hit and miss, which proves my point about it being sport not pest control.

There are more effective ways of controlling fox numbers. While shooting them may not be 100%, it is a far better option than chasing them and letting the hounds rip them up.

I'm a country lad and have seem just about everything that happens in the countryside; so don't try and tell me I don't know what i'm talking about!”

“I'm afraid you're wrong Catalyst, as people do indeed make a hobby out of killing rats using dogs. In fact it is often children who beat the ground with a broom whilst their jack russels catch the jumping rats and shake them to death.

My dog which was injured was incidentally an Alano (A very large breed of mastiff), although I'm not sure what the size of the dog has to do with anything considering a fox will happily bring down a fully grown sheep.

Why is it that a rat is seen as different to a fox? They're both dirty, are both attracted to rubbish, are both scavengers and will both bite anything that gets in their way. Whether people like it or not foxes are vermin, categorised as pests along with rabbits, badgers, magpies, rats etc.”

“The local hunt came thro my land without even trying to obtain permission, in their quest for their fun day of sport the took down one of the gates, completely wound up my own horses who then escaped. One of my horses then in his hysteria went galloping off down a main road before attempting to scramble up a hedge in his panic. 2 operations, months of nursing and off work and a huge vets bill later, what do you think the local hunt have said about that??..... absoloutley nothing! i am a horsewomen and can fully appreciate the freedom and enjoyment an exhilerating days riding with your hore can bring, what I dont appreciate is (as so often the case) this stuck up pompous better than everyone else, we will go where we want and do what we please attitiude that so many hunt fraternity conduct themselves.
I wont be voting tories if thats the case if they are to relegalise hunting, tho lets be honest the hunting may be illegal but it certainly hasnt stopped!”

“Excuse me Catalyst, but when have you seen this being done in a hunt? You couldn¿t possibly
a) Because you don¿t agree with it so therefore wouldn¿t even be there
And
b) All the years of hunting I did we never caught a fox they always were excuse the pun sly as a fox.

If they had been scared well then frankly I don¿t care because they would have scared our livestock when they killed them so I am sorry but foxes are cute and fluffy when you see them running around but not everybody views this opinion of yours.

Second point I would like to make is how high do you expect our fences to be and how big our dogs to be exactly???”

“Perhaps if the fox was feed to the dogs and not simply thrown away and wasted the protesters would feel better about it. After all foxes tear chickens to bits and eat them.”

“Lucy

Sounds like you need to get a bigger dog and protect your livestock with a fence that's more effective against foxes.

Rats and foxes are not on the same level. Everyone (that's reasonable at least) would agree that rats are vermin, but not foxes. I guess that's because most of us wouldn't have a problem with a fox in our garden but would if we saw a rat.

This doesn't make it ok to hunt and kill foxes with dogs. People haven't made a sport out of hunting rats; you just get a pest control expert in (or buy poison yourself) who will sort out the problem and give you some advice if you need it. They will come and use the most appropriate and effective method of removing the pest. Can it be said that hunting foxes with hounds is the most effective and appropriate method of removing a fox that's taking livestock? No.

Hunting foxes is about sport, it's a historical fact. To use the 'pest control' defence is utterly misleading and downright dishonest.

You may have seen some foxes that took a while to die after being shot, well no method will ever be perfect. But the alternative is just a disgusting dfisplay of blood-lust; every fox that's caught by a hunt is torn to pieces by a pack of hounds in front of a group of bloodthirsty, sick and depraved oiks and bumpkins etc.”

“this is just another way of getting more votes . if they bring hunting back they will lose my vote .”

“It is good to see the Tories understand personal freedoms and are doing their best to reverse this, spying on each other and interfering with other peoples interests that Labour has cultured.
I don't like hunting, but I would like the freedom to do it if I did.”

“Sorry Dave, I've missed exactly what your case is?

As I say, each of us can only comment on personal experiences. Foxes are vermin who last year managed to kill 11 of our ducks and injure our dog. This year we have already lost 2 sheep.

We do not make a living out of keeping these animals, they are our pets so of course we love them.

If we had a rat infestation, I would not think twice about poisoning them ... would this also make me a hypocrite for saying that I'm an animal lover?”

“There we have it now. An animal lover who hunts........animals. I rest my case.”