Fox Hunting

[eoinh]

But stopping the hunts here will have no impact on that, they are not related issues...

Most hunting in Ireland is unregulated. Simply assuming that killing of a large number of a particular species doesnt have affects on the natural environment is naive.

[Macy]

Most hunting in Ireland is unregulated. Simply assuming that killing of a large number of a particular species doesnt have affects on the natural environment is naive.

But are large numbers being killed though? Fox hunts have been going on for centuries. And that's not taking into account the urbanisation of foxes increasing the numbers.

If you talking about pheasants and other game birds, they're bred specifically for shooting. No shoots, less pheasants. If anything the balance is being upset by the introduction of more of them, not the killing of them.

Killing a large number of particular species does affect the natural environment, but not controlling numbers can be equally detrimental.

[liamon]

Most hunting in Ireland is unregulated. Simply assuming that killing of a large number of a particular species doesnt have affects on the natural environment is naive.

Macy is right. The number of gamebirds is controlled in ireland as they are routlniely bred and released into the wild for this purpose. To the best of my knowledge, pheasant are not even native to Ireland.

As for foxes, there is no shortage of them and hunting them with hounds on horse back has little chance of a kill. So it has no dramatic effect on their numbers.

Also, there is some regulation. Hunting is confined to determined seasons. For instance, pheasant season is Nov - Jan. Anyone hunting outside of that time is breaking the law. Not sure how strict enforcement is, but anyone that I know of who hunts also obeys these rules.

[Macy]

Also, there is some regulation. Hunting is confined to determined seasons. For instance, pheasant season is Nov - Jan. Anyone hunting outside of that time is breaking the law. Not sure how strict enforcement is, but anyone that I know of who hunts also obeys these rules.

Pheasant season is defo just started, as hundreds of the blooming things around us now. Who has the last laugh? The toffs bred them on their estates, release them, first sound of gun shot the pheasants píss off onto the surrounding land.