Foxhounds will always kill foxes when hunts allow them | Letters

National Trust could risk prosecution if it crushes motion to ban trail huntingJoss Hanbury, master of the Quorn hunt, says foxhounds have “been bred for generations to hunt live prey”, giving this as a reason why hunts keep killing foxes, implying that it’s just one of those unfortunate things that can’t be helped (News).If someone’s bull terriers savaged a bull, it would be no good the owner pleading that the breed had been bred for bull-baiting and therefore there wasn’t much he could do to stop them. He would be prosecuted and the dogs might well be destroyed. But hunts take out packs of 30-plus dogs that they state are uncontrollable and take them to coverts almost certain to contain foxes. So foxes get chased and killed and the hunts pretend they thought the hounds were on a non-existent “trail”. Continue reading...