How fares the fox?

For many countrymen and women, the ban on hunting has only confirmed what we already knew — that the fox as a species was a lot better off living in countryside that was regularly hunted by a recognised pack of foxhounds. That’s not to suggest that foxes enjoy being pursued — though they often behave in a remarkably sangfroid manner when only a few minutes ahead of hounds — but that populations were healthier and more buoyant in traditional hunting countries where farmers, landowners and gamekeepers allowed the hunt to fulfil its role in managing the fox population. Many recognised the important differences between indiscriminate control and management, where the ambition was to maintain a healthy population at an acceptable level.

Farmers and landowners who supported hunting achieved this