In reply to:

don't pretend that chasing them across the countryside while dressed up is making any difference



Perhaps you should check your history of fox hunting.
Fox hunting DID serve a purpose, it really did control the fox population. Fox in the UK had NO natural predator and shooting them was unrealistic. Farmers relied on huntsman and their packs to control the fox population. They were only able to kill the weakest fox. Just like natural selection.

The fancy dress came out of respect for the farmers and land owners. The red coats came from Thomas Pink who made a waterproof red coat for a huntsman out of left over British army boiled wool.

Today Fox hunts provide incentive to keep land open and undeveloped. They also carry on a tradition of keeping a working pack of hounds and the skill of riding through rough country.
Unfortunately the folks who are anti hunt see fit to bomb kennels and string up wire to decapitate unsuspecting riders or to break a horses leg, because it's more humane than a fox hunt.

Have you ever seen a fox hunt to completion? I suspect not. The fox is generally killed within a second of being caught by the hounds. Have you seen a fox killed by poison? It's not pretty and generally fox who have been poisoned(the preferred method of farmers today) are more dangerous to humans in there last few hours while they slowly struggle against the poison.

Hunting and fishing (also on the list to be banned in the UK) provide incentive to people to keep a part of the countryside natural. If you take that away then you are left with golf courses wich are huge strains on local resources for water and pollution run off.

Don't be so quick to condemn our ancestors way of life, we were better off when we knew where our food came from.
_________________________
___ John Turner "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission"