Hunting Rabbits With Dogs Your Views

[Mike from Hereford]

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The use of dogs hunting Foxes in now banned, just wondered if K9ers considered hunting rabbits with dogs should also be banned ??

Like to read both sides of the opinions , its just that my son aged 11, won,t come with me to hunt as he believes its cruel.I fully respect his opinion, and would never force the issue.

I look forward to your replies.

Mike

 

[»Tina«]

I for one hope it's not banned, I don't hunt myself but if any of my dogs caught one I wouldn't mind, it's there nature to chase,

and I do enjoy watching my dog's bolt off after prey, (the power and speed is breath-taking) they never manage to catch one but they come back looking pretty happy with them selfs for making the rabbits get out of 'thier' field (w00t)

I think if it is banned there will be uproar, and alot more arrests for people going against it and hunting anyway.

 

[OEH]

They shouldn't have banned hunting in the first place. If they banning rabbiting I'm moving to France. :unsure:

:rant: :rant: :rant: :rant: :rant: :rant: :rant: :rant:

 

[gucci04]

My daughter also feels that its cruel of which I respect, but I used to enjoy going out with our old dogs who were a whippet and a greyhound X.They made the kill almost instant, its a natural thing for them to do. Where as I could'nt shoot anything for fear of injuring it and it dying a long and painful death.

 

[bappit]

I would hope (for varied reasons) a ban on hunting rabbits is never considered.

I have never seriously hunted with any of my dogs, as its hard enough to find babysitters for a night on the town, nevermind a lamping trip. However, some of the 'retired' lurchers I'v taken on have happily gone on to sucessfully catch...at times when I've struggled to feed them all (family and dogs) it was a most welcome source of organic meat. Which in all honesty I would rather use than factory reared and produced supermarket chicken and meat, the methods in keeping/feeding and slaughter most of which I do consider cruel.

I understand Mikes sons views and also respect them, I have a 9 year old daughter who refuses to eat any type of meat on the grounds that it was once alive, and she would no more consider eating that than her pet rabbit, or the lambs she petted on the farm we used to live on.

 

[Janimal]

We live in rabbit country here too and if my dogs caught a rabbit I wouldnt mind too much. I feel they need thinning out and a quick death is the way to do it.

I also keep rabbits as pets and have other small animals here at our house, but my daughter also thinks its very cruel to kill anything. I am not vegetarian and I do work on a farm but also wouldnt want to eat the lambs I bottle feed there, if you know what Im trying to say. If the meat is already prepared to cook then Im fine with that.

I did not think fox hunting should have been banned because there is no natural predator for the fox now and I feel the countryside needs management but this is only my opinion. :thumbsup:

 

[ILoveKettleChips]

Definitely don't think it should be banned, rabbits are a nuisance and a pest and I haven't plucked up the courage to take Maisie out properly yet so don't want my chances ruined! )

 

[~JO~]

I too would hate to see it banned. I would completely despair of this country if this was banned too, its all bad enough already

I think it does children good to understand the life-death cycle , too many children think meat just comes out of a packet, I believe that if you eat meat you should be fully aware of the process by which it dies.

I completely understand veggies being against rabbiting - but when meat eaters are against it - that completely baffles me. When it comes to animal welfare a rabbit that is caught by a hound and dispatched has it pretty good compared to what many animals go through on farms and in abbatoirs in this country.

 

[sparky]

yeah, well said. if we lose the right to hunt meat for the table then this country has F***ed it. theres nothing more natural than catching your own dinner,

 

[melanie]

i would not like to see it banned, although i dont go hunting with my dogs the rabbits that they have caught have always been eaten by the dogs, i dont see a problem with that at all. i use to think the killing of all animals was cruel when i was a child and my dad always went hunting and there were always rabbits hanging in our kitchen! i then worked for a fox hunt for years and therefore went fox hunting myself and although i didnt always like or agree with what went on i do think that more cruel things happen to animals then killing them with a dog

 

[Janimal]

Trouble is nowadays - food is available too readily and easily . In those days most people had to hunt a few things to have a substantial diet which isnt the case nowadays so I think this may be one reason why some people find it cruel now. If they had to hunt to live and eat then it would be a different matter.

 

[shane]

Well i am a Veggie ) on principle can't kill it myself so don't eat it, but have no problems with people who do (each to their own). I have two Whippets who I love to see run and chase prey but don't like to see them catch it but when they have it's clean kill.

I agree with the other person if you are going to use a gun you have to be a good clean shot or the animal will suffer.

Also have a Horse not been fox hunting but don't fancy galloping after a terrified fox, wouldn't mind drag hunting though )

 

[Veredon]

I also wouldn't like to see Hunting Rabbits Banned.I didn't want Fox Hunting Banned Either...like Janis Says they have no Natural Predator Now.

I think Hunting Is Natural...as the Car Stickers Say....Even Foxes do it!!!

 

[whippynit]

To be honest (w00t) im not really bothered either way. I know im a hypocrite and everything cause i eat meat ( never tried rabbit though!) but i couldnt go hunting myself or bare seeing one killed!! (w00t)

Im just a total sop like that, I even save beetles if i see them laying upside down! :wacko: :lol:

My cat ( gone to rainbow bridge now) brought a mouse in once....in the bedroom at 2am and i heard all this noise, ended up pulling out a chest of drawers to find it behind them, catch it and let it go in the garden, making sure the cat didnt know where id released it!! It was winter aswell and i was freezing prancing round the garden in my nightie with a mouse!! :lol:

 

[buffyrannoch]

Jack was a natural born hunter, and there was nothing more magnificent than watching him spot, chase and catch rabbits and the occasional grey squirrel, I always thought Id be a bit sqeamish about it, but it just seemed so natural.

Buffy really cant be bothered :blink: but Toby is very keen and wont be discouraged :thumbsup:

 

[Pennymeadow Whippets]

Rabbit hunting will hopefully not be banned good hunting to all who take part :luck:

 

[Levs]

I could think of nothing worse however I wouldn't be surprised to see a blanket ban on dogs in the countryside one day as is happening on parts of Dartmoor :wacko: nothing surprises me with the Nanny state we live in.

Good hunting all, I for one am looking forward to this season.

 

[Levs]

[SIZE=14pt]" I'm looking forward to the season too "[/SIZE]

 

[Rae]

I dont think those photos are suitable for general dog discussion - if it had been coursing, which is perhaps where this thread should have been anyway, then fair enough.

My own dogs have been catching and killing rabbits with Myxi the last few weeks but I wouldn't take pictures of their dead bodies and post them on such a general forum.

I would rather see the rabbits killed quickly by my dogs then suffer and die with mxyi but I take no pleasure in taking the life from another animal.

And yes and am a vegetarian 'fluffy'

I do understand that rabbits can be a nuisance and that they do need to be thinned out for various reasons, but it's just not something I would ever do for pleasure.

 

[maggymills]

Me & my mum went out on the weekend with her 3 black labradors- they were off ahead when we met a man who informed us that we were breaking the law.

We thought he has having a joke or something, so we asked him to explain himself as he was being deadly serious.

So he said you have 3 dogs off the lead and they are hunting, you are going to have to put one on the lead. He said its illegal to have 3 hunting dogs off the lead! We explained we were just on a casual walk and the dogs havent been instructed to go sniffing out- but that didn't matter, in the end we told him to stick it!

It doesnt matter whether it foxes, rabbits or whatever else- its just got ridiculous if you cant take your dogs for a walk!