“I have seen nothing in the recent comments to warrant further discussion.

It has all been said before. The points have all been answered before.

The fact remains that some people think it's OK to chase and kill wild animals for fun. The majority do not.

Over and out.”

“Norman says "...so Hunts are just exercising or Trial Hunting ..."
Where on earth do you get your facts from ?
The hunts near me are NOT trail hunting; they are hunting! They still kill animals (foxes, deer, hare etc), but they just call it 'trail hunting', and gullible people like you believe them.”

“Ivor I am only 15 minutes down the road why don't you come to my farm and I will show you how deer can be managed using dogs in a completely welfare friendly and non lethal way.”

“Ivor I still question the Poll results unles they would like to show the types of people that were surveyed and the areas, I know for a fact that more are shot now by game keepers and others, it is a matter of Fox control but gives others the oppurtunity to ride and jump land that they would not be able to.
Will, a fit Fox is less likely to enter a chiken house or go for a new born lamb as they are able to catch other things ie rabbits etc, it is the older or more disformed that will go for these as they are an easier target, and yes a lot of people do go out for the ride and the chase and the Field might not even see a fox, but as we know at present Hunting a Fox has been banned so Hunts are just exercising or Trial Hunting which is never the same as Foxhunting”

“I would say that the majority of people expressing a view one way or the other are against fox hunting but, contrary to what Ivor Annetts says, there is a substantial number of people - myself included - who are not convinced either way, or for whatever reason have no strong view either way.

But if as Norman Bryant says "a fit Fox will normally evade the hounds" then the activity can't be justified on the grounds of pest control, can it, only on the grounds of maintaining a fit population by culling the less fit ones. But don't they dig out foxes that have gone to ground? - I don't know as I have never been on a fox hunt.

I think that people who support hunting should admit that most of them do not really care about pest control but enjoy a day out on horse-back carrying out a traditional activity and at the same time satisfying a hunting instinct.”

“Oh dear Norman, I wonder how many times we must go round this track. But here we go once more:
a) Polls: The polls, sponsored by LACS, are carried out by professionals, Ipsos-Mori. I think you will find it very difficult to find recent CA polls conducted by organisations of an equivalent standing.
b) Shooting v hunting. You write as if you consider these to be competing alternatives. They are not. Farmers have always shot foxes they perceive to be pests and unfortunately continue to do so. There is no evidence to suggest that more foxes are now shot because some hunts are obeying the law - if indeed any are. If you have witnessed as many hunts as I have you will know full well that the activity has nothing to do with so called pest control. It is merely a sport for a sick culture that is gradually being forced to accept the moral values of our society.”

“Dear Ivor, the polls you quote are instigated by the LACS, your own group so your out come is not surprising, The CA have done Polls to show the opposite so perhaps neither are correct. The main point is by continuing this ban more Foxes will die from far more horrible ways than by hunting with hounds whereby a fit Fox will normally evade the hounds but the alternatives are non selective and kill any wild animal. Even when a Fox is shot it may not be killed outright and take days to die in a most terrible way, but this is what you are promoting with a ban on hunting. This law is a very bad law and there is no place for a bad law to exist.”