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| Cute but destructive (BeautifulFree pictures.com) |
They knew more then us another fox was seen yesterday on the Ormsaigbeg common grazing. The hens will have to stay locked up until mid morning until this one is caught.
The hogg that was beheaded by a fox two weeks ago was worth at least £50 and then there is the consequential loss. My trio of Copper Black Marans imported from Germany were killed when the fox ripped the roof off. They could reasonably be expected to produce at least 100 hatching eggs worth £2 each, more consequential loss after a year of hatching , selecting and rearing.
This clash between livestock farmers and predators has been going on since animals were first domesticated. In Africa its hyaenas and lions, in N. America coyotes and occasionally wolves and here in the highlands its foxes and white tailed sea eagles.
Foxes are by no means an endangered species and the regulations around hunting in Scotland mean that the killing of foxes is as humane as can be managed so I am prepared to shoot them. On the other hand sea eagles are rare and probably endangered in Europe so we have to tolerate them taking lambs from time to time and there is a compensation scheme in places where sea eagles are nesting.
Please note
This type of hunting is done by a bunch of Crofters and Shepherds protecting their stock and livelihoods not a bunch of "toffs" on horseback wearing fancy dress.
I too am against fancy dressed hunting. I suppose I am against hunting full stop but see the need to protect livestock. In my book any creature should be killed as humanely as possible & not killed for people to enjoy as a pastime.
ReplyDeleteWe had hens & ducks years ago when living in Kent. We never lost any hens to a fox but I found our 6 ducks missing one day, one was found in our field but there was no sign of the others. I spoke to a old local boy about it, he said they would still be in the run & the fox would be back for them later. I said there is no sign of them being around in the run, he said go back & have another look, see if there were any undulations in the grass. Sure enough there in the run were the other ducks, neatly buried. We made sure that when Foxy came back there was nothing for him/her to retrieve.
I am also against the badger cull, farmers have to address the need to vaccinate their cattle, not kill off another species to save on costs.
Any comments ?