There are plenty of animals who have an extremely strong instinct to return to their mate during and outside of breeding season - especially birds. Maybe not "home", but the OP's point was clear and not necessarily incorrect.
The trouble as I see it is that if you don’t breed animals to work or be sporting equipment you no longer breed for soundness and athleticism.
Or breed at all?
Well looking at Arab horses for instance, plenty still get bred but they would be impossible to ride.
Is a strong drive really 'soundness', though (returning to the point about this aspect of personality in humans)? Many humans with compulsive thoughts and behaviours find them distressing and would prefer not to have them.
I suppose the drive is just part of the package.
Thats why there needs to be an element of careful what you wish for. There won't be 1000s of exracehorses grazing idyllically in green pastures, or hounds living their best non hunting life. It just won't happen. No racing no TBs , no hunting no foxhounds, beagles or harriers as like the horses the majority will be shot. Yes animals need to treated kindly and with compassion but its a slippery slope to want to ban everything!
Does it really matter if they don't exist? We bred them into existance, theyre not naturally occurring... If there's no "use" for them, what difference does it make if they stop existing?
Not a fan of the RBST then?
A slippery slope for people who want those animals around but not at all for the hypothetical individual animals of the future, who won't care at all that they never got born. If we're going to take it to its philosophical endpoint.
Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Sorry I didn’t think they were niche but I suppose they are.
Yes they're fine it's nice that they do it, but it's for livestock... Which we created... So my statement still stands...
I suppose they have heavily been influenced by man though, as the herds have been controlled and kept isolated (as in, no mating with other breeds allowed) for a long time. That's a good thing as otherwise we wouldn't be able to admire the lovely Dave
. They're not a human invention like the TB though, and they're supposed to be the oldest breed in the UK and closer to the original 'wild type' than any of the other UK breeds, so I wouldn't really see them as 'created' in the same way as general farmed livestock.I am hoping its going to be soon, in reality they have only been in power a couple of weeks and its going to take time. They have loads of things to look at. They have clearly stated that trail hunting will be banned so its a matter of time now.
I found a discussion on greyhounds the other day interesting, as bred for function but a bit like TBs that sometimes negating longer term health as that doesn’t matter so much if you can run fast when you’re younger
They don't make old bones IME. We have a lot of clients at vets who take on ex racers. They all seem to get health issues younger than "normal" and seem prone to cancers. Not many of them get past 9 or 10, and some much younger.
yeah sadly greyhounds are horribly prone to bone cancer and teeth issues amongst other stuff. Saying they are similar to TBs is probably the best way to describe it. Theres money involved so sense goes out of the window and its all about wringing whatever you can get out of them as soon as you can, then disposing of them. Its really sad. Greyhounds are lovely. More laid back than whippets and big clowns most of the time and would make ideal pets for people if they were bred outside of racing, but its nearly impossible to find a greyhound puppy. Racing for money/betting never does any animal any good I don't think
Well if you did I'd like to think you'd know what you were talking about
www.countryside-alliance.org
Bloodhounding (hunting the clean boot) and drag hunting are NOT 'trail hunting'. 'Trail hunting' is done by former fox hunting packs - it usually involves following an animal based scent.
