IF HUNTING CEASED
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—There are many well-meaning people who would like to see hunting done away with, on account of the very question- able amount of cruelty it involves. I notice, however, that the tortures which the fox's fur-bearing cousins have to endure, that women may wear their furs, arouse but little comment.
Fox-hunting is a sport, and all sports are necessarily cruel ; but it is always the aim of every true sportsman to render them as little cruel as possible. The quarry must also be accounted for in a legitimate fashion and given a fair chance of escape. Three out of four times a hunted fox escapes, and when the end does come it is mercifully quick ; in fact, prac- tically instantaneous. If foxes were not preserved for sport they would be speedily exterminated ; because, from the farmer's point of view, they are the most destructive of all vermin. Their death would be accomplished by traps and poison, which are far more cruel than the quick death of being killed by hounds. Many also would die lingering deaths, being wounded by shot-guns. (I believe it to be a fact, which is not generally known, that a wounded fox frequently dies of blood-poisoning or lockjaw. This is probably because they do not lick the wound, as a dog or a cat always does.)
Hunting folk are not cruel. The majority of them, after a good gallop across country and having watched hounds hitting off the line from close up, are rather pleased than other- wise when the fox succeeds in outwitting them in the end and saving his brush. The immense amount of good which in so many different ways accrues from hunting completely out- weighs the very slight cruelty which is involved. It would be a bad day for England indeed if fox-hunting was ever stopped ; in fact, little short of a national calamity. Drag-hunting and cross-country riding can never take its place.
Killing a badger with hounds, on the other hand, is both cruel and barbarous. It takes about twenty-five minutes of worrying before life becomes extinct ; because the hounds are unable, as in the case of a fox, to tear the skin. The time can, of course, be shortened, if anyone can get in and hit the badger on the head ; but this is not always easy to accomplish. The poor badger is also an animal which does very little harm and a great deal of good. It will dig out and destroy every wasp's nest which it comes across in its nightly rambles.
As regards stag-hunting, now that they have agreed to shoot the quarry at the end instead of using a knife, and to whip hounds off if the stag takes to water, all the principal cruelty is removed ; so for goodness sake let us leave this alone, and get on to what really matters.
By concentrating against the horrors of fur-trapping and the skinning of seals alive, and by trying to check the activities of those so-called " sportsmen " who are decimating large herds of wild game by shooting them down from motor-cars and even from aeroplanes, we may hope to stop these abomina- tions, and also prevent the now threatened extermination of all the wild animals of the world.—I am, Sir, &c.,
N.B.—I will gladly send my leaflets about the Fur Crusade to anyone asking for them ; and I hope that other papers will copy this letter..
[The Spectator is opposed to cruelty to animals wherever it exists. It believes that in a hundred years our descendants will refuse to regard the taking of animal life as legitimate, unless it be for food, for self-protection or where the number of some particular species has to be kept down. But there is a difference between keeping an ultimate objective in view and deciding on what is immediately expedient. Reformers must not go too far ahead of public opinion, and for that reason we do not think that a campaign against fox-hunting is practical politim. There are in our view many other
subjects of greater urgency, such as the introduction of humane slaughter of all animals used for food, including pigs and sheep ; the suppressing of otter hunting and rabbit coursing ; and the abolition of the cruelties involved in the fur trade. We entirely agree with Major Van der Byl's remarks on the subject of "killing a badger with hounds."—En. Spectator.]
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