ROD & GUN In Defence of Hunting Hare With Hounds

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31111, 14 July 1966, Page 18

ROD & GUN In Defence of Hunting Hare With Hounds

(Specialty written for “The Press’' by

JAMES SIERS)

Blood sports nearly got spattered with gore on Wellington’s Channel last week with a short film piece on New Zealand’s version of the hunt, a la horse and hounds. 8.8.C.'s Whicker did it brilliantly in his television documentary, but because of the time limit imposed on Town and Around items, we got a few minutes of film and then a studio interview with a gentleman from the S.P.C.A. The gist of it all was that people actually ride to hounds in New Zealand and that they do so up to twice a week. The S.P.C.A. view of this is that it is extremely cruel to hound a hare (we have no foxes) because the animal is terrified when the hounds are after him. The culmination is the death of the hare and this seldom happens because generally the hare is much faster and smarter than the hounds. Once it is dead members of the hunt who have not been in on a kill before are “blooded” (dabbed with a piece of offal on the face); the trophies are taken off the hare and it is thrown to the hounds. The hounds eat it with vigour. My objection ‘to all this is that the more interesting aspects got little mention. I’d like to know some of the historical background to hunting in New Zealand: the type of horses used. How do they cope with a lot of the broken ground and the wire fences? What about the hounds? Are they bred in New Zealand and how do they compare with the home species? What type of people go hunting in New Zealand? Perhaps one day we’ll have a documentary of this sort. Now to deal with the man from the S.P.C.A. One of the most remarkable things to

come out of the interview was his answer to the question of how the S.P.C.A. regarded the shooting of deer and pigs. He said in effect that as these are vermin, those shooting them deserve the heartiest congratulations. I disagree with that attitude. He should know that the S.P.C.A. is a society for the prevention of cruelty to all animals. Second, if the hare is not killed by hunters it may well multiply in some areas to pest proportions, and then by his reasoning the company which rides to bring it down will be performing a laudable deed. I wonder how he would feel if they started chasing some of the various assorted “vermin.”

Coming back to the hare, I would also like to suggest that the gentleman from the S.P.CA. should read some of the elaborate information on this remarkably resilient animal. It is born with three objectives: to eat, to reproduce, and to avoid dogs. To avoid ending up as a meal it has evolved a most intricate escape system, so that either it has to be sick or weak in the head before a dog will catch it under normal circumstances. If the S.P.C.A. wants to protest at the killing of hares, then it should tackle the Rabbit Destruction Council about the laying of poison for rabbits, which hares are also inclined to take. What should be said is that much more cruelty is done to animals in an insidious perverted sort of a way. Look at the average pet dog in the city—fat, listless, and mollycoddled until it isn’t even an apology for a dog. If they survive the round at the hydatids dosing strip, then they will probably collapse

of heart-failure due to overrich diet and insufficient exercise. If people want to risk life and limb and gallop a horse at and over obstacles just because some hounds are baying their hearts out in pursuit of a hare, then I say good luck to them. Their lives are probably in greater danger than the hare’s. And good luck to anybody who wants to enjoy the outdoors, either with a rifle or a rod. Man achieved his preeminence over the rest of his species, and the only debt he owes is the responsibility not to abuse the right. What the S.P.C.A. should concern itself with is the cruelty caused to waterfowl by the ruining of their habitat; the hardship caused to fish through the poisoning of rivers through pollution; the poisoning of birds through the use of toxic sprays for weed and insect control in the fields; even the cruelty of keeping dogs in cities without adequate exercise.