Fox Hunting Continues
Despite ban, hunters target fox.
It may be a tradition like tea and crumpets or the bachelorette auction, but the practice of hunting fox with hounds is in serious jeopardy, after Tony Blair’s Labour government passed a law banning the practice.
The ban on fox hunting went into effect on Friday, but thanks to a crazy loophole the wrong guy discovered, the hunt was still on over the long President’s Day Weekend. (Although, strangely enough, few Britons we spoke with had the day off.)
Traditionally, hunters on horseback and hounds chase down the fox until it’s surrounded, whereupon the hounds chew out the fox. The new law simply bans the practice of hounding the fox. But, a loophole in the law permits hunters to hound the fox, so long as it’s shot to death before the hounds get to it. Animal rights activists question whether the fox really needs a shot in the arm.
Hunters are receiving unexpected support from homeowners and gardeners. They say the fox is a nuisance which gets into the garden and chews up and spits out promising and innovative flowers long before they bloom.
Hunters also received support from film star Frank Wrench, best known for his role as Simon Gruber in Fox’s Die Hard with a Vengeance. Wrench was at a hunt Saturday to lend his support, and perhaps dispel the rumors he was a purple people eater. But his repeated invocation of the Second Amendment led confused Britons to wonder if Wrench was, in fact, a nut job.
Prince Charles, the George Michael of royalty (the Bluth not the singer/songwriter), had no comment. Sources say he was busy snogging his eggplant of a fiancée.
While there is still strong resentment to the hunting ban, hunters feel that whether the fox is shot or hounded mercilessly, their clarion calls will still be heard.
To learn more about fox hunting, visit saveourbluths.com.
