it might be well to stay off Ireland Always good advice, which Ireland's neighbours would have done well to heed over the centuries...
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If I was a fox I think I'd be quite pleased to have an artificial earth provided, even if it was provided by hunters.

I can't really believe that pest control is a central motive for hunting. Nor for that matter do I see blood lust as too significant.
My assumption is that historically the important thing has been that it has underpinned a whole range of social activities which have been important in various ways for many country people.

I would hope that in time drag hunts will largely fill the gap - though at present there is a tendency for these to be used as a way of evading the law and continuing to hunt foxes.

Cultures change, and good things can come out of bad. If we tried to purge our culture of all the thing with dodgy pasts we'd be much poorer. There's the analogy weelittledruummer pointed us to about the Great War.