In the British Isles the fox is a serious agricultural pest, one that does tremendous damage to chicken and sheep farmers. Foxes will actually eat a lamb as it is being born. British farmers feel a deep rage against foxes, not only for the great economic harm they do but for the suffering and death of their carefully-bred livestock. Somehow, the fox population has to be kept under control, but as long as foxes have this abundant food supply, their numbers continue to grow.
Last year Lord Burns, who was delegated by the Crown to prepare a lengthy in-depth report on the problems of the fox population, considered various ways of fox population control. The verdict was that because of the nature of foxes, it was more cruel to trap, gas, or shoot them than to hunt them with hounds.
For people who don't live in and work in the country, chasing the foxes may seem cruel. Well, death is cruel, and it is a hard part of country life, one that suburbanites don't often understand. The hounds give the fox a quick death--the fox is killed instantly with a quick twist to its neck. (It is not shot, by the way.) The speed of the horses and hounds provides the most efficient way of catching this swift, elusive, and very intelligent animal in a land where ATVs are not useful.
In Britain the battle against foxhunting is led by Marxist-Leninist animal rights activists who are quite violent and are not above murderously attacking hunters and their innocent horses. (A reporter for England's Independent newspaper a few weeks ago secretly tape-recorded animal-rights activists planning to injure or kill Prince Henry at a foxhunt.) The anti-hunting movement is fueled by class envy--the mistaken idea that only the rich ride horses--and by the well-meaning but sentimental city person's ignorance of country life. It is part of the process that threatens to end traditional English life and values.
I've been to a fox hunt several times. The fox is ALREADY IN A CAGE, and is released solely for the "sport" of catching and killing it. On one occassion, the hunters and dogs lost the fox within a few minutes, returning to release another. They are actually INCREASING the fox population by fox "hunting!"
By the way, they lost three foxes that day, and didn't catch one. Bad day? No way. We saw a rider leave his mount going over a hedgerow, landing on his @$$ in the mud from a good 6-8 feet. It looked worse than it was, as his pride suffered the most damage. But we sat in the pub and went through a fair number of pints laughing at him, and the escape of three condemned foxes.
I heartily recommend a trip to "follow the hounds" if anyone is ever in Britain. It's a load of fun, and make sure to bring your camera.