Spot on. Animals are not people in furry coats - they’re animals. There is a difference.
Only depending on when the law is passed; sometimes a law is passed that prohibits a popular activity, and by force of the law will make the activity unpopular. OTOH, sometimes a law is passed prohibiting something that is already on the decline.
The reason that most “blood sports” ( a loaded term) were banned stems from a certain puritan streak in the British character that can’t abide the idea that somewhere someone may just possibly be enjoying themselves.
In other words it was the same unrepresentative self appointed bien pensant tossers then as it is now.
As I have said if they actually gave two hoots for animal welfare they would be closing down every halal slaughterhouse and butcher in the country. But somehow or other that’s “different”
*Plus ca change… *
Before the ban I had this great idea for RSPCA fundraising. It involved all the unwanted pets that were due to be put down, and a shooting range. Unfortunately I never got around to trying to pitch it to them, too late now…
What’s the deal with halal slaughterhouses? What IS an halal slaughterhouse?
I agree. Sport hunting is incredibly wasteful. Especially since I come from a Native background I have a lot of trouble with the idea of killing just for the “thrill” of it or to prove to your buddies that you’re a big man. If an animal is going to be shot, at least take the pelt, eat the meat, or even feed it to your damn dogs. To just kill and discard is incredibly cruel and disrespectful on so many levels.
In fox hunting, with the combination of men on horses with guns, and the hounds, the fox hardly has a chance. At least make it a fair fight.
Here are some figures quoted by Charlie Pye in ‘Fox Hunting - Beyond the Propaganda’.
Fox kills:
Between 1960 and 1980 about 14,800 foxes were killed by hunts each year.
Around 100,000 foxes are killed on the roads annually, 80,000 are shot and 30,000 are snared.
There are not reliable figures for hunters using terriers or lurchers, but a speculative figure would be 60,000 in all.
Lamb deaths:
Dr. Ray hewson did a survey in Scotland which found less than 2% of lambs born are killed by foxes annually, while about 25% die from other causes (such as hypothermia and disease). He found that lamb production of the Isle of Mull (no foxes) was no better than on the adjacent mainland (where foxes abound).
Hounds:
In 1997 there were about 15,000 hounds hunting nationally. Most are shot as soon as they fall sick, misbehave or reach 6 years of age.
It is a place where animals are killed and cut up in accordance with Islamic customs. Sort of like Jewish food laws, but different in some points.
A slaughterhouse that butchers animals in a halal manner. Halal meat is meat that it’s religiously ok for a Muslim to eat. It’s the Muslim version of kosher. In order to kill a cow according to both halal and kosher rules, you have to cut the cow’s throat with one stroke of a really sharp knife and let the blood drain out.
Some animal rights activists have complained that this method is inhumane.
Hear, hear. If somebody’s enjoying themselves, and it ain’t hurting you, you need to stfu and mind your own freaking business.
If someone’s going round town blowing people’s heads off, and having fun doing it, should I mind my own ‘freaking’ business then?
Utter shite.
And I deeply resent your implication that we don’t give two hoots about animal welfare. it’s utterly wrong, and ridiculous to believe that our main motivation is to stop some posh people having fun. They can have all the fucking fun they like for all I care. Heck I have absolutely nothing against any of the classes. I just don’t like animals being killed for fun!. So fuck off with your misguided attitude.
Then the debate begain to go south …
If the person whose head is being blown off doesn’t have a problem with it, then that’s their problem.
I don’t get it.
You think that if people are having fun in the countryside chasing after a fox and watching it ripped to pieces, then people who live in the cities should mind their own business. Well some people have a sense of justice and compassion. If they believe an injustice or cruelty is being committed, it doesn’t matter where or by whom, they have a right to object to it. And if they have the power to put a stop to it then all the better. So no, we shouldn’t mind our business.
Having a right to object to something doesn’t translate to having a right to stop that thing from occurring. A vegan may object all he wants to my eating meat and wearing leather, but that doesn’t mean he has the right to force me to switch to tofu and exchange my leather shoes for canvas ones.
I have a question that I don’t think has been addressed yet. Whose land does the hunt take place on? Do fox hunters hunt only on their own land? If they go onto other folks’ land, do they pay some kind of user fee? I imagine that a bunch of horses running through someone’s fields could cause quite a bit of damage. And I know I wouldn’t want a large group of horses and dogs running across my property unless there was a very good reason.
If people didn’t have the right to object to, and ultimately make laws against the habits of other people then society wouldn’t work.
Your meat eating and leather wearing are extremely difficult things to outlaw. Foxhunting isn’t. It’s old fashioned, cruel, and easy to halt (because it doesn’t serve a purpose) so it has been outlawed. It is a thing of the past, like treating women as second class.
How do you figure? Provided, of course, that the other person isn’t initiating one of the old bugaboos of force or fraud against a person who doesn’t consent to that force or fraud (n.b. animals are not persons).
If I as a business owner wish to exclude women from my employ, or refuse to serve them, the government has no place to be telling me otherwise.
(Disclaimer: I am not a business owner, and if I were, I would not discriminate against women. It’s bad for business.)
Oh okay I see the problem now. Some people, believe it or not, DO think that animals deserve not to be killed for absolutely no purpose other than some sadists pleasure.