"Would you like to be chased by a pack of hounds? It's a question often put to highlight the cruelty of hunting, because the answer would seem to be no. Or so you would think. Yet increasing numbers of people are volunteering to be chased across the countryside by baying bloodhounds in what could soon be the only legal way to hunt with dogs in England and Wales, rather than pursuing animals or their scents."
"Today, one of those runners is your nervous Guardian reporter, as I join the human quarry of the New Forest Hounds (NFH). It is not a blood sport, I have been assured. Despite their ghoulish name, bloodhounds, unlike foxhounds, do not tear their quarry to pieces. They're very soft and friendly, you'll see, says Will Day, joint master of the hunt."
Clean-boot hunting involves bloodhounds and horse riders pursuing human cross-country runners rather than animals. Under government plans to outlaw trail hunting and tighten the 2004 foxhunting ban, clean-boot hunting has gained interest as a potentially legal way to hunt with dogs in England and Wales. The pursuit is backed by the League Against Cruel Sports and some former fox hunters. Bloodhounds do not tear their quarry to pieces and are described as soft and friendly. The New Forest Hounds operate from Victorian kennels now housing 40 bloodhounds, a professional huntsman, and support from a knackerman who retrieves dead livestock to feed the hounds.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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