"So hunting has no effect on fox populations.
So why the outcry against it?"

The concern has never been that fox hunting will wipe out foxes, or adversly affect the poulation of foxes.

The outcry is based upon the fact that it is an uneccersarily cruel way of killing an animal. There are also other concerns, such as the effect some hunt preperations have on other wild life in the area (having badger sets filled to limit bolt holes for the fox, for example), and the effect uncontrolled hounds can have on other animals (they can make a real mess of a field with pregnant ewes, and have often been known to rip domestic cats apart as the feline screams in agony and fear). Additionally the conduct of many of the hunt has caused much anti hunt feeling in many areas, both the riders and the followers. There are many cases of these people utilising land they have no permission to use for example.

Another growing concern is that the issues related to how the rural areas are treated by central government and its policies have become overshadowed by the hunting debate. The perception is that if you support moves to have the rural areas more fairly treated you are also pro-hunt. This is not a perception based on truth as there are many in the rural areas who do not support the hunt. I am aware that this has stopped many people from rural areas supporting, for example, the Countryside Alliance.

The argument that fox hunting is the best way of controlling fox numbers has never been satisfactorily backed up with reliable statistics. There is no way of denying this. This fact weakens the pro-hunt debate.