Greg I think the issue is the cruelty. I am an out and out townie and have no idea if fox numbers have spiralled to such an extent that they need controlling.

I see many roaming around London, they are grey and mangey and normally nose deep in a chinese takeaway carton,   but it doesn't make me want to torture them.

But IF they do need controlling in the countryside, and the henhouse argument wouldn't be enough to sway me, (why not build fox proof structures), I would rather they have a quick relatively painless death at the hands of someone employed and skilled in doing the job. As you mentioned with the shooting. Cynanide sounds slower and therefore my knee jerk reaction is that it isn't a good option.

But when the death is slow and laboured, as with hunting, and the end result of something called sport...I have a problem with it?

And when we hear that hunting doesn't actually have any effect on the numbers of foxes, it just leaves me asking why do hunters do it then? Where is the feel good factor in watching an animal suffer, and there obviously is pleasure in it for the hunters, because there is no other valid reason for them to do it. They aren't doing the country a great service.

I think the red coated, bugle blowing twats have been the most visible in the field, although I have no doubt in what you say about many class of people indulging. But it still doesn't make it right in my eyes. My only problem with the ban is why we have to wait until 2006 for it to be enforced?