In the U.K. it is now illegal to practice catch-and-release terrierwork -- you must terminate every animal that has been dug to, and none can be relocated.This insane law is a direct result of the "animal rights" movement writing legislation about something they know nothing about and do not understand.
Ironically, the end result, when combined with restrictions on the number of dogs that can be used while fox hunting, is that fox are simply being shot in record numbers as they are now seen as pure pests and have lost all economic value as a hunted (and therefore economically valuable) species.
Even as fox are losing value as a quarry species, their numbers are proliferating due to people feeding them out their back door.
The result, as seen above, can be extreme population densities which are inevitably controlled through the raveages of disease, vehicle impact, or shooting (the picture above is of 23 fox shot in one night on a UK golf course by a professional pest exteriminator).
It is ironic, but true, that nothing has been better for fox than fox hunting! Not only are the mounted hunts inefficient (meaning they could never hope to extirpate fox from an area), but they tended to disburse fox populations and pick off the weaker and sicker animals -- often before they could spread disease to other animals in the fox population.
In addition, the mounted hunts, by creating jobs and a vocal voting political constituency, worked to protect both fox habitat and discourage wholesale fox shooting. Finally, the mounted hunts were responsible for introducing red fox to countries all over the world -- including the United States.
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