This post is a repost from this blog, circa March 2005.
Some folks in Germany have developed a company that manufactures pre-fab artificial earths for fox.
The German design for these things suggests several possible motivations:
- A very serious shortage of natural dens for fox (not likely);
- A shortage of time to locate these natural dens by paying customers who want to work their over-large show dogs in a safe manner (very likely), and;
- A confusion between killing fox and hunting fox.
This last point is suggested by the photos on the site showing more than two dozen dead fox laid out one after another.
Even when found in dense numbers, fox need a certain amount of space in which to hunt, and the number of dead fox shown here suggests the stocking of fur farm fox so that people can shoot them as they exit a concrete pipe. If this is what is occuring, it is ugly business. One does not have to be an animal rights lunatic to think a fox deserves more respect than a skeet shooter's clay pigeon.
Let us not confuse confuse hunting with killing. Anyone can kill and it takes no skill. There is a reason Teddy Roosevelt embraced the concept of "fair chase," and there is a reason that the best fishermen in this country do catch-and-release.
Respect the land and the creatures on it, and we will never lose our right to hunt.
Take time to learn about the wildlife in your area and be ready to stand up and speak out for land conservation issues from forest protection to open fields legislation, from riparian protection to farm conservation tax easements.
Above all, keep the wild in wildlife and keep the hunt in hunting. If we allow bullying slob hunters to define us, we will lose a great deal of what we value.
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