Daily Mail Article

[ladybugred]

The hunt was on the cat owners’ land.

The hunt handled this with an incredible lack of tact. The cat was removed from the owners’ land, then returned two days later in an empty dog food sack!

While I agree that the moggie shouldn’t have been put out unmonitered, the hunt behaved incredibly badly! They know how they are viewed by the non horsey public, and should take that into consideration.

I do not hunt, but my understanding is that the hounds should be more highly trained, they are not to go haring off after the wrong “prey”, especially with the hunt in question being a drag.

LBR

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

[QUOTE=altjaeger;6031264]
“Yogurt knitter” – I had to resort to the Urban Dictionary for that one, LOL.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, and you still can’t find it there, unless you spell it with a British accent, e.g. yoghurt knitter.

I reckon some folks over there aren’t satisfied with getting live hunts banned and now need a reason to go after the drag hunts.

Seriously. I have coyotes on my place. If I let my cats go wandering outdoors to wantonly kill native groundnesting bird species and a coyote or the bobcat who lives near the mailbox dispatched one of them - whose fault is that, exactly?

[2ndyrgal]

Well, duh.

I think had the huntsman or Master retuned Pussy in a nicer container with a sincere apology, or that instant, given the option of burying her instantly that would have been much less cruel. I doubt the hunt would look kindly on someone hitting a beloved, loyal hound with a car, then waiting two days and bringing him back in a trash bag. While the Brits do reuse nearly every paper sack of any substance for nearly any purpose, perhaps their practicality and frugality could have been placed aside and returned kitty in a suitable wooden box or at least wrapped nicely in something fairly decent, say the MFH wife’s fur coat or the Huntsman’s coat.

As for the hounds? Well I suppose it was good it wasn’t a toddler with his chops full of gravy.

[Equibrit]

[QUOTE=ladybugred;6033915]
The hunt was on the cat owners’ land.
LBR[/QUOTE]

If there is a bridle path across your land, which the hunt uses regularly, and legally, wouldn’t you be more careful with your pets? Hunt days are common knowledge in any village.

[ladybugred]

Equi-My understanding is that Moggie was in their garden, not just roaming free over public rights of way (bridle/walking paths).

For those mentioning coyotes, as of when are hunt hounds free ranging wild animals? HHs are highly trained animals expected to go after a specific scent, the ones who don’t /can’t are found new homes.

LBR

[pAin_t_Misbehavin]

[QUOTE=2ndyrgal;6034032]
I think had the huntsman or Master retuned Pussy in a nicer container with a sincere apology, or that instant, given the option of burying her instantly that would have been much less cruel. .[/QUOTE]

I guess they were fresh out of cat coffins. :rolleyes:

@ladybugred;6034125

For those mentioning coyotes, as of when are hunt hounds free ranging wild animals?

They’re not. But the cat owners should be aware of the potential risk - whether from wild animals or hunting hounds -and not let the cat roam where it will encounter animals that will kill it.

Around here, fox hounds are trained not to run deer. But if I had an old deaf deer I wouldn’t turn it out on hunt day and say “Oh, well, if any harm comes to Bambi it’ll be all the fault of that huntsman for not training his hounds properly.”

[ladybugred]

If you read the article, the cat was put into the garden, read BACKYARD, to stretch her legs, not just allowed to wander willy nilly. The article says the hunt was on a prow through the cat owners’ land, not through the backyard.

Again, I don’t think the the cat’s owners are in the right, but I do believe the huntsman acted shabbily.

LBR

[ladybugred]

And the pic of the dead cat and Pedigree bag are just revolting beyond words!

LBR

[JGHIRETIRE]

They look like an “elderly” couple - it could be they totally forgot about the hunt.
The hunt really did a poor job of public relations on this one.
It’s very disheartening as it’s too easy for the PETA/ AR people to now go after them.

[QUOTE=Equibrit;6034059]
If there is a bridle path across your land, which the hunt uses regularly, and legally, wouldn’t you be more careful with your pets? Hunt days are common knowledge in any village.[/QUOTE]

[altjaeger]

Kind of hard for PETA to go after them since they were drag hunting, but I suppose someone might propose a law forbidding hounds to run free.

[analise]

I am not in England so I may be mistaken but…

…the “garden” is a fenced in space, yes? So did the dogs jump these people’s fence and go after their cat or was it roaming beyond that area near the bridle path the hunt was following?

I do understand it’s more acceptable to let the cat go out in England (as compared to the States where it seems like more people have indoor cats [save for barn cats and the like]) but I guess I find myself wondering why anybody would think it a good idea to let their elderly, deaf cat out in a non-secure area. Would that have made the news if a fox or a neighborhood loose dog had killed the cat?

Guess I don’t get where the hunt (though note: I am not a fox hunter, it’s just a sport that intrigues me) went so terribly wrong either in their reaction. They apologized, they took the cat but it was apparently to clean her up first (I was expecting to find out the cat had been torn to bits upon reading the headline but she looks remarkably intact in the picture…and I find myself shocked that the newspaper posted a picture of a dead cat) and yes, they returned her in an empty dog food bag which could be taken as a rather cruel joke I suppose but I guess my first reaction was to ascribe thoughtlessness than deliberate cruelty.

[mildot]

[QUOTE=ladybugred;6034178]
If you read the article, the cat was put into the garden, read BACKYARD, to stretch her legs, not just allowed to wander willy nilly. The article says the hunt was on a prow through the cat owners’ land, not through the backyard.[/QUOTE]

Do you believe everything you read?

Do you think news reporting is 100% unbiased?

Just wondering aloud…

[mildot]

[QUOTE=ladybugred;6034181]
And the pic of the dead cat and Pedigree bag are just revolting beyond words!

LBR[/QUOTE]

Really? That’s what you consider revolting?

You sure have a weak stomach.

Videos of islamic terrorists decapitating a man while he’s alive are revolting. Yep, I’ve seen them.

Still photos of a dead but otherwise relatively intact cat and of a dog food bag are not revolting.

[mildot]

[QUOTE=analise;6034484]
Would that have made the news if a fox or a neighborhood loose dog had killed the cat?[/QUOTE]

We all know the answer to that…

[wateryglen]

Don’t believe it!

I don’t believe everything I read. How do we know any of it is true. How do we know how the hunt really handled it? Or if the incident even really happened?!! Their land?!!
Does anybody know if that newspaper is a reputable one with dependable reporting? I don’t know my British rags. Are they known for any bias?
Just wonderin’…!! :rolleyes:

[altjaeger]

I do know my British rags, and the DM is very sloppy in its reporting, and they also have an antihunting bias, but they are generally conservative, otherwise. Just a few days later they have this non-story on bear hunting in PA.

Hundreds of bears legally killed

[Kryswyn]

The dead cat looks pretty good for being ‘broke up’ by hounds. My terriers (far less than 13 1/2 couple) have caught and killed a feral cat and it looked much worse, but was dispatched very quickly.

Lots of culpability here to be shared. Owners should not have let 18 yo deaf cat out without being there to watch her. Were it my cat, it wouldn’t have been let out period. The hunt definitely handled this badly. A more sympathetic return of the cat to the owners would’ve been much better.

Hounds are a well trained group of animals GENERALLY but even in a trained pack you will have better and worse hounds. Hounds who find the scent and never waver and hounds who are lower down in pack order and who are not as seasoned who while following a scent, saw the rapid action of the cat and just naturally went after it.

Sad end for the cat, but it was quick.

[mildot]

After reading many of the comments on that article, the pistol whipping scene in Band of Brothers comes to mind as something I’d like to do.

Truly, I feel dumber having read so many ignorant comments regarding the US.

[Equibrit]

[QUOTE=ladybugred;6034125]
Equi-My understanding is that Moggie was in their garden, not just roaming free over public rights of way (bridle/walking paths).
LBR[/QUOTE]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8956283/Couple-devastated-after-pet-cat-killed-by-27-hunting-dogs.html

"Mrs Atkinson, who has lived with her husband in the area of coastal countryside for 31 years, said they own land either side of a public right of way and have had problems with hunts before.

“It’s a worry as we have cats and hens,” said Mrs Atkinson. "We realise we can’t stop them as it’s public but they need to control the dogs more.

“They’re not vicious dogs to people but if they see an animal they will go for it.”

[Equibrit]

The Daily Mail is this sort of newspaper. You shouldn’t even use it to wipe your _ss.