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Labour to win? Surely not...
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Howburn Digger
Howburn Digger
986 posts

Re: Less and less dignity
Jun 13, 2017, 22:36
tjj wrote:
Interesting post HD, I didn't know that about Charles, suspect it was said some time ago and has the ring of princely privilege and petulance. I'm very much against fox-hunting which only takes place in rural locations, simply because I've always considered it immoral to hunt a wild animal with dogs who then rip it to pieces. I accept they have to be humanely killed in certain circumstances to protect poultry and lambs. The fox is not the only animal who will kill a surplus of food - there is quite a long list. Whether it kills for fun is matter for debate. Domesticated cats do, as do ants and bottlenose dolphins, to mention just a few. He was writing exclusively about city foxes but says this about two 'types' of fox:

The first is rural. He’s quiet, and shy, and lives by hunting rabbits and pheasants. In my line of work, killing them is tricky. They steer clear of cage traps because they are terrified of anything that smells of man. But that trait also makes them unlikely to attack humans.

The second is the town fox, a far more dangerous beast. He was born among men, grew up among them, and survives by stealing waste from rubbish bins or eating litter dropped in the streets. You’ll often see him walking boldly around after dark, and if people are stupid enough to leave food out for him in their garden, he’ll happily take it.[/i]


Rural foxes do not live on rabbits and pheasants (most pheasants are bred, released and killed by motor vehicles. Sad fact but true. Tiny percentage make it to face the guns they are bred solely for.). Foxes rarely chase rabbits as they rarely catch them. Rural foxes live on anything they can get the easier the better... lambs, chickens, baby birds, ground nesting birds, rural bins and roadkill (never ever saw a fox eating a dead "roadkill" badger... but I have my suspicions why that is). I have seen rural foxes feeding out of bins in laybys, eating long bird-of-prey pellets (fur and bones etc). They don't like people and are really hard to shoot, they are mostly "winged" and die in agony over a few days. The dogs that farmers or game keepers took with them were to finish them quickly. That kind of fox control was nothing to do with the Ponce Charles scarlet-coated Reynard bummers.

When I lived in Edinburgh I saw urban foxes regularly. I'd often see one down near Comely Bank which waited for the Green Man to cross the road (I kid ye not - 1997 was the year!). The city foxes loved fast food and bins around a nearby KFC were haunted by urban foxes. I have seen urban foxes eating dogsh*t off pavements and once saw one with its nose wedged in a McD McMilkshake McSlurry Cup. These kind of foxes are rarely shot because the people in towns and cities with guns tend not to use them for keeping urban fox numbers down. The guns are mostly unlicensed and in the hands of criminals.

As for Dolphins killing for fun... Sixteen years ago I watched a pod of dolphins tossing a baby seal between them just off the rocks at Kintra beach on Islay.
https://goo.gl/maps/J8Uwt1iaXVn
I filmed it too. There was a real grace about the whole thing. I also once saw a Giant Panda eating a little baby deer on the BBC about ten years back... I could no more look at a Giant Panda after that than I could bear to play my old Gary Glitter records again or get my Jim'll Fix It badge out and wear it...
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