Foxesandfarmershavenevergotonwell. Thesesmalldog-likeanimalshavelongbeenaccusedofkillingfarmanimals. Theyareofficiallyclassifiedasharmfulandfarmerstrytokeeptheirnumbersdownbyshootingorpoisoningthem.
Farmerscanalsocallontheservicesoftheirlocalhunttocontrolthefoxpopulation. Huntingconsistsofpursuingafoxacrossthecountryside, withagroupofspeciallytraineddogs, followedbymenandwomenridinghorses. Whenthedogseventuallycatchthefoxtheykillitorahuntershootsit.
Peoplewhotakepartinhuntingthinkofasasport; theywearaspecialuniformofred
coatsandwhitetrousers, andfollowstrictcodesofbehavior. Butowningahorseandhuntingregularlyisexpensive, somosthuntersarewealthy.
Itisestimatedthatupto 100,000 peoplewatchortakepartinfoxhunting. Butoverthelastcoupleofdecadesthenumberofpeopleopposedtofoxhunting, becausetheythinkitisbrutal , hasrisensharply. Nowadaysitisrareforahunttopassoffwithoutsomekindofconfrontationbetweenhuntersandhuntsaboteurs . Sometimestheseincidentsleadtoviolence, butmostlysaboteursinterferewiththehuntbymisleadingridersanddisturbingthetrailofthefoxssmell, whichthedogsfollow.
Noisyconfrontationsbetweenhuntersandsaboteurshavebecomesocommonthattheyarealmostasmuchapartofhuntingasthepursuitoffoxesitself. Butthisyearsupportersoffoxhuntingfaceamuchbiggerthreattotheirsport. ALabourPartyMemberoftheParliament, MikeFoster, istryingtogetParliamenttoapproveanewlawwhichwillmakethehuntingofwildanimalswithdogsillegal. Ifthelawispassed, wildanimalslikefoxeswillbeprotectedunderthebaninBritain.
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