| Topic: | Re:Re:Contact Your MP to Stop Repeal of Foxhunting Ban | |
| Posted by: | Sam Hearn | |
| Date/Time: | 19/05/15 13:41:00 |
| I remember going out one crisp winter's morning with my Father. A local farmer had asked him to "do a little rough shooting" over his land to keep down the rabbits and the pigeons that damaged his crops. Seeing a movement in a hedgerow some distance off my Father discharged the choke barrel of his shotgun. As we got closer we found that he had hit a fox which he quickly dispatched with his second barrel at close quarters. On closer examination we found that the fox had been caught in a snare of a kind that even in those days was illegal. The animal had nearly gnawed through its own leg to escape and must have been in agony before my Father dispatched it. On returning to the farm my Father enquired diffidently who had been setting snares and the rather shamefaced farmer said nothing but pointed to his free range chicken pens. I have often thought of this incident in later in life when friends and acquaintances have talked of the cruelty of fox hunting. I have a good friend whose common sense and intelligence I much respect but he still talks of his time with "the Sabs" when he was a student. He now spends his spare time on posh golf courses. I wonder if farmers still set illegal snares? |