Whaaattt?

Should killing rats be banned?

 

If it’s classed as a “sport” then yes.

 

Fox's kill and eat rats i know as i watch one do it + had a buzzard drop in on a rat as well

 

Ripping Foxes to bits is not a sport IMO.

 

For some people it is

 

What about killing rats with terriers

 

Traditions going back centuries are not all abolished due to class envy. Sending children up chimneys to clean them ? Not exactly humane even then never mind today. The idea is to learn as time goes on. Not something we are particularly adept at yet.
Hunting is not simply a way of culling old or sick animals - it's a sport as well. Yes, if hunting with dogs is totally banned, some will lose their jobs and if the owners are unwilling to keep them on to care for their dogs, they will go too. Not much difference from Greyhound racing - hardly an upper class sport - those dogs are also often difficult to rehome and owners aren't always willing to keep the "losers".
Many people with a rural background openly condemn fox hunting and their views do have a right to be considered.

 

If I had to get pest control out to dispose of rats invading my house, I wouldn’t be happy, but I’d probably have to get it done if ‘peaceful’ methods had failed.
Would I be happy if a bunch of spectators also arrived, dressed in funny clothes and fortified by a few glasses of sherry before they set off? I’d be calling the police and some psychiatrists.

 

I would say without the class system, my life would have been different. As would everyone's, given the gov we live under is steeped in it.

But my point really is the class system wastes talent. It tends to create boundaries that are hard to break out of. It can limit viable options. If you have sufficient wealth, contacts, and, crucially, influence, you have a safety net. You can make false starts and still land on your feet. You don't have to be the best person for a role to get it. And so on.

 

That sounds like a “sport”.

 

.....qualified to the same level as doctors who trained in this country, and proven to be so. Just as important is their understanding English and being able to speak clearly in English. I have mentioned before one of the GPs at our local surgery. I struggle to understand more than about one word in four that he says. No matter how good his training is, that's only one part of the picture. It's similar to a situation when I was as school. Our biology teacher had God knows how many letters after his name, but was absolutely terrible at putting it across to the pupils.

 

As for the class system...........how many people will still bow/curtsey/nod their head to royalty ? How many will use Sir or Lord, Lady or Dame when speaking to someone who claims such a title ?
Those who do so immediately admit they are of "lower personage" - there are good people and bad people, rich people and poor people, mad people and sane people but the one word that encompasses all of us is the word People. Until the Robots take over, that's what we are.

 

Gosh, where does that question come from? Anyway we have no rats around this area, or my town. It is possible the town 20 mins away could have them, never heard about it. First time I actually saw real rats was in New Orleans on the wharf area. It was then I realize there was no cat that could kill one of those, why those rat terriers are needed. And yes, in general, they do carry diseases, and should be culled.

But, then there are those scientific rats used for tests.

 

I’m absolutely sure that foxhounds arent trained to only attack old or sick foxes! Any foxes they come across will do.
I do feel sorry for the future of the hounds, rendered unadoptable by the purpose they are raised for. No well earned retirement for them, a bullet in the head when they can’t keep up, and probably dumped into the cooking pot with the farm casualties to feed the rest of the pack.
Maybe a possible compromise might be to continue trail hunting for a few years under strict conditions

• No further breeding of ‘working’ foxhounds, so the current strains die out.
  
• The scent trail to be immediately replaced by a non animal scent (aniseed, or would that cause problems for local sweet shops?)
• All hounds to wear muzzles when out of their kennels.

That would give a short respite to organise an alternative form of leading a hunt, with no animals involved.
I’m being generous here, as this would mean that the hunts die out in about five years. Sadly, this short time span is because hardly any of the established hunts have any dogs over five or six years old. While they can live a healthy life to at least 12 or 13, their usefulness with a hunt only extends to a very short life span. They are then disposed of, along with any younger hounds who don’t show sufficient blood lust and stamina. Cruel to foxes, dogs and any wildlife or pets unfortunate enough to cross paths with them. Unacceptable.

 

Redstar I ask because people seem upset about foxes being killed but thousands of rats are killed every day but nobody complains is that because of the lifestyle of the one's hunting