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How can anybody enjoy an activity which involves stressing a living creature? Are foxes scared out of their wits and in effect; tortured while being chased? Are there methods of control which involve less stress? Do Hunt Followers enjoy seeing the kill? Do Hounds tear a fox to pieces while it is still alive?

How can anybody enjoy an activity  which involves stressing a living creature? 

First let me say that I respect the beliefs of true Vegans and those that, for religious  reasons, do not kill or eat flesh . However, most of the human population enjoys the  activity of eating flesh; even where obtaining it involves stressing a living creature.  Fish feel pain and are stressed when suffocating because they are left to die in a  commercial fishing boat out of their vital environment of aerated water. 

Do you enjoy eating fish? 

Surely non-vegans must accept that some of their enjoyment will cause some distress  to living creatures. I believe that acceptability must be judged by the degree of mental suffering (as distinct from physical stress) involved and the extent it is necessary. The issue in Foxhunting, therefore, is "does it cause excessive mental suffering and is it necessary". Years of observation of hunted foxes by knowledgeable Countrypeople shows that they remain fully in control of their wits throughout the chase. I believe therefore, that although Foxhunting  stresses foxes physically, the levels imposed are within the limits to which their minds have become adapted to withstand the stress.  Therefore, Foxhunting does not cause excessive mental suffering compared with other  methods of achieving the balance between fox populations and the limits of tolerance  of those upon whose interests foxes prey, as discussed above. This control is widely accepted to be necessary in many individual farms and hilly areas and around many shoots. Therefore, I can allow myself to enjoy the skills of the hounds, of the Huntsman and of crossing the countryside on horses, feet or vehicles. After all, many sports are about enjoying the use of your own skills and/or those of other people and/or of animals (e.g. watching or playing football). Hunting is NOT about enjoying killing, but we accept death of foxes, deer etc. as a necessary service to those who allow us to use their land so that we may enjoy the skills of The Chase (Foxhunting, Stag hunting etc.) What service do ramblers provide to the land owner or tenant?   I admire the altruism of the many who allow "permitted paths" across their  land for no benefit to themselves. If you have a garden or driveway that could be  a convenience to others (say, as a short cut to school) do you allow it to be used?

I find Angling much more difficult to accept than Foxhunting. Fish feel pain and are  sentient beings. Their instinct is to swim away from danger. This they cannot do when  hooked. Even at low levels of physical stress sentient beings suffer mentally when their instinctive response is thwarted.  Thus fish suffer when hooked. A fox's instinct to flee from hounds is not thwarted  until seconds before he dies. Furthermore, he is adapted mentally to the level of physical stress he experiences during the chase. 

Angling, like Foxhunting, takes place for enjoyment, even if the fish is eaten. However, Foxhunting takes place for other purposes in addition to enjoyment; for instance, to control a predator, to disperse a fox population so that it does not suffer from  an unnaturally high density, to condition foxes to the chase, to cull the genetically  unsound, to put sick foxes out of their misery. In many parts of the USA, where foxes  are seldom killed by the Hunt, several of these purposes still apply. 

If you wish to view more detailed reasoning on issues relating to the alleged cruelty  of Foxhunting click here. 

Do Hunt Followers enjoy seeing foxes killed?   Most Hunt Followers, like most "shots" and fishermen do not enjoy the death. All those who take part in Field Sports are equal in enjoying the skills of the chase; of the flushing, marksmanship and retrieving in the shoot or of the baiting, luring, striking and playing in fishing or of the many skills involved in other Field Sports.   The number of people who turn away on the rare occasions that followers are close enough to witness a kill.