Please can you explain how it is cruel to shoot a hound, rather than giving it a lethal injection?
Of course the dog has no knowledge of its impending death because there is a gun there! I've never seen or known about any horse being blindfolded when shot. Hounds are shot away from the pack, as much as anything for safety reasons. Many dogs, never mind Hounds, find it stressful to be taken into a strange building, so euthanasia at a vets is often not the kindest option.
Its cruel because its often done simply because the hound is no longer required either because it does not want to hunt or is too old or is injured. They are easily disposable.
But not cruel as in causing unnecessary suffering and lethal injection would be just as cruel, presumably?
Sadly its not a single incident though is it? All these " isolated " incidents add up.
I’m pretty sure anyone who shoots hounds doesn’t even give it a thought whether they are acting kindly or not. it’s just disposing of their unwanted possessions in the most convenient way to them without a thought for the dog.
What you are sure of does not constitute the truth, it is your opinion, not borne out by any first hand knowledge, as far as I can see. My experience of hunt servants (those who are responsible for the day to day care of hounds) is that they do indeed have concern for the hounds they care for, upto and including ensuring a pain free end.
Off course if a dog or other animal is injured or ill or very old no a lethal injection is not cruel and I have witnessed it more times than I care to remember, However just as a method of disposal because the hound is no longer up to its job or even if it doesnt want to hunt to be shot in the head and stuffed in a waste bin like a bit of rubbish is disgusting. Would you like your dog to end up like that?
So how is shooting more cruel? I would have preferred our old rottweiler to have been shot at home, she would have found that less distressing than the lethal injection at the vets (she was very anxious at the vets, due to an incompetent vet in her early life). What happens to any corpse does not interest me, beyond it not causing a pollution risk. How is shooting a hound cruel?
Its the casual disregard for life more than the method to be honest. The fact that hounds are so disposable and can be just dragged out and shot. You could have had your dog pts at home had you wished.
Thats your prerogative and its not the method but the casual disregard for life, be that fox, hound or horse.
So shooting the dog is not cruel, saying so was perhaps a mistake? My dog would still have had her leg shaved, by someone smelling of a vet clinic, she was actually euthanized in the car, but I would have preferred her to be shot at home.
Then there are going to be a lot of very upset people, when animals are too expensive to keep and the rescues are full. The only responsible option will be euthanasia, whatever form that takes. I would consider it more immoral to keep animals without meeting their needs, because of financial constraints, than having them euthanized.
It depends very much on who is doing the shooting. No saying its cruel was not a mistake at all. I have had a horse shot many years ago and it was not a nice experience for all involved but its not the method thats the big issue here though its its the mindset of the hunt staff who think its ok to take life so casually. I think you well know that though. If you are such a fan of shooting I am sure someone would have obliged you with your dog if you think its such a kind way.
Unfortunately the person who I would have wanted to do the deed lived too far away for it to be feasible. I have had several horses shot, over the years and two given a lethal injection. The horses who were shot were given the better end imo. You stated that shooting a hound was cruel, however you have failed to give any evidence to back up your assertion.
Oh I quite agree, I was just trying to clarify the difference between something being 'cruel' and something being thought of 'immoral' or 'unacceptable'. And, yes, we have already have evidence on the forum that people have very different views on when they feel euthanasia of horses is acceptable.
Ok, maybe I should have said killing a hound is cruel if that makes you feel better? To breed a animal to do a illegal activity and then to kill it because it either does not want to hunt or is too slow or gets injured doing said illegal activity is immoral in my opinion. It makes a mockery of hunt staff saying they love their hounds. Yes they love them so much they beat them or shoot them if they do not do the illegal job they bred them for.
It is nothing to do with what makes me feel better. You stated that shooting was cruel, not immoral, but cruel. That implies that the animal suffers as a result. Many people behave in ways which I do not condone, having seen many people using their horses as a "chair" at a full day's show, that does not mean that I therefore condem all people who show. I have seen tired horses "ridden hard" to complete a cross country course, I would condem that individual, not all people who ride cross country courses.
Do you consider it cruel to have a horse shot, rather than it be given a lethal injection?
If the shooting of hounds was the only thing about hunting I do not condone I could agree with you, sadly there is so so much more. The fact that fox hunting with hounds is illegal, bagged foxes, digging badger sets, assaulting sabs, stabbing foxes, punching ponies, running sabs over with cars and even jumping horses over sabs. Did I mention its ILLEGAL? That makes anyone who knowing goes out with a pack that they know is going to hunt fox a CRIMINAL.
Have we not just had this conversation? I have had a horse shot and had lethal injection. It depends on the horse and the circumstances.
Your argument against hunting is yours to believe, your argument stating that shooting hounds is cruel, its fallacious and does nothing to make others believe the rest of your assertions.
Do you believe it is cruel to shoot a horse? If not, then how is shooting a hound cruel?