Yes we wouldn't want those poor little foxes to have to endure the cruel bites from a dog! How 'inhumane' that would be! LOL
G-d forbid one of those foxes should intrude into your house and you shot it -- then you'd be arrested for self-defense! LOL
Try concealing that long rifle (for hunting only!) into London in your trenchcoat, since you can't carry a pistol, and see what kind of reception you get! Or a knife (like surely only a 'terrorist' would do!).
Come on down to my state -- I can carry my 9mm or my HK 40S&W with me around town -- concealed! I can go plunking at the local range with my AR-15. I train with the local sheriff's department on their tactical range with some of my pistols or my Berelli M4 tactical shotgun. If someone breaks into my house they'll more likely end up DEAD from a round to the middle of their forehead than not -- and the police would pat me on the back for it!
---
UK: Self Defense In Your Own Home Is Illegal TV Star Warned Over Waving Knife At Intruder
...Hertfordshire Police officers warned Klass she should not have used a knife to scare off the teens because carrying an "offensive weapon" - even in her own home - was illegal.
---
Defenseless British citizens are attacked in their own homes by violent burglars every 30 Minutes
“A householder is attacked by a violent burglar every 30 minutes. . . According to the BCS, householders came face-to-face with burglars in 20 per cent of domestic burglaries last year. . . Of the burglaries in which the victim came face-to-face with the intruder, violence was either used or threatened in 59 per cent of crimes. . . It was actually used in 40 per cent of cases. . . Tories estimated that householders came face-to-face with burglars in 57,000 – 20 per cent – of burglaries. . . Of these, 23,000 resulted in the burglar using violence against the householder.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1245417/Burglary-victims-attacked-home-30-minutes.html
---
To obtain a firearm certificate, the police must be convinced that a person has "good reason" to own each firearm, and that they can be trusted with it "without danger to the public safety or to the peace". Under Home Office guidelines, firearms licences are only issued if a person has legitimate sporting, collecting, or work-related reasons for ownership. Since 1968, self-defence has not been considered a valid reason to own a firearm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_the_United_Kingdom
---
Yes, home self-defense is not 'criminalized' in the UK as long as you only use 'proper government-approved methods':
---
Anthony Edward "Tony" Martin (born 1944)[1] is a farmer from Norfolk, England, who in 1999 killed one burglar and wounded another who had both entered his home. He was convicted of murder, replaced with manslaughter on appeal, and as a result became a cause célèbre, and polarised opinion in the United Kingdom.[2]
On 23 August 1999, Martin was charged with the murder of Barras, the attempted murder of Fearon, "wounding with intent to cause injury" to Fearon, and "possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life".[9] Martin did not hold a valid Shotgun Certificate (licence), let alone the more restrictive Firearms Certificate he would have needed to posess the high-capacity pump-action Winchester shotgun.
English law permits one person to kill another in self-defence only if the person defending him or herself uses no more than "reasonable force"; it is the responsibility of the jury to determine whether or not an unreasonable amount of force was used.[12] The jury at the trial were told that they had the option of returning a verdict of manslaughter rather than murder, if they thought that Martin "did not intend to kill or cause serious bodily harm".[13] However, the jurors found Martin guilty of murder by a 10 to 2 majority.[14]
He was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a recommended minimum term to serve of 9 years, reduced to 8 years by the Lord Chief Justice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Martin_(farmer)
---
He served 2/3 of a reduced five year sentence. Sadly, we have some of the same injustices here in the USA -- as in George Zimmerman's case.