Quote:Originally posted by A doghouse:
I could never hunt, but have no problem with others who do, as long as they are not cruel and make a clean kill. I have been upset on many occasions when seeing beagles or other hounds, locked in kennels and only taken out by their owners when its time for the Sunday hunt. This is a common occurance in France.
Most hunters here take their hounds out a few times weekly, others are just weekend hunters. I'm included in the latter category. I live in the city, so don't have the opportunity to run them more than 2-3x a week.
Keep in mind though, that even if only taken out once a week, a good hunt normally lasts several hours. Hunting dogs, even the ones taken out once a week, get more exercize and mental stimulation in a few days than most house pets do in a month. I have plenty of my pups in pet homes, but these people are screened thoroughly and I match the pup's temperament to the family. It normally turns out that the pet families do not get the most active pup in the litter, because I know most average families cannot deal with the activity level of this breed. That's something to consider, especially with the high rate of Beagles in shelters. They are being dumped for behavioral issues, and that stems from the breed's inability to be kept in inactive family situations.
I'm of the opinion that hunting s not cruel, it's a part of life. I know MANY hunters who use their rabbit hounds as their "meat pack". I see nothing wrong with wanting fresh killed meat in lieu of grocery store meat which can be processed, old, or which was raised with questionable methods. My family used to own a farm many decades ago, and killed their own animals. Their chickens got to live a normal life, eat real food (not the processed garbage being fed commercially raised chickens), smell fresh air and bathe in the sun until the day they died. Same with the rabbits my family raised ... Same with the hare I hunt with my Beagles. They live a normal life before they are shot or dispatched by the hounds. I can't see how people would say that its acceptable to buy commercially raised meat from a gorcery store, therefore we shouldn't hunt anymore, when the grocery store meat lived a miserable life before it was killed. Either way, that's life. Animals die to feed other animals and people. It's cruel, it's not a Disney movie, it's a fact of life ...