|
When
Prince William chose to go hunting in 1999, it
upset
many who saw his mother, Princess Diana, as a champion against
cruel sports. But to others William’s actions gave support to a
part of British life in danger of being
outlawed.
Fox hunting is the
pursuit
of a wild fox with a
pack of
hounds. The hunters normally
ride on horses, and include the
huntsman, his
whippers-in -the
huntman's assistants- and the hunt
followers. The hunt followers are controlled by a ‘Field
Master’.
Those who support hunting say that
foxes kill chickens, wild birds,
new-born
lambs and
piglets
unnecessarily. Foxes, they say, can live well on a diet of small
wild mammals, insects and worms. They estimate that up to 5% of
lambs are lost to foxes. Some people also argue that if hunting
is outlawed, landowners will
rip out
the woodland where foxes live, and so destroy the home of many
other wild creatures.
However it seems that the end is near for hunting. While many
country people support it, many townspeople think it is
unnecessarily cruel and are against it. The majority of voters
live in towns in Britain, and so do the people who make the
laws. Soon, the 16,000 people who are employed in hunting will
have to look for other jobs. |
