crdale

Try looking at http://www.terresdeurope.net/ang_accueil.htm it is a bit out of date but it may give you some pointers   Chris

Have to confess that today is probably the only day when I miss an English newspaper. Replacing with the Today prog on Radio 4. Just heard red fornt door at no 10 on the orders of Her Holiness   I preferred the item at the end of the program which was a report on the UK theme being replaced by a European theme which icluded an arrangement of the van de Valk theme tune, I could see blood pressures reaching boiling point all over the country.   Chris

[quote user="Logan"] It's an interesting concept. The system makes the people not the otherway round. A bit like chicken and egg, which comes first?   [/quote]   Chicken and egg laying in bed together having a cigarette one turns to the other and says I guess thats answered that question![:$] Chris  

How about some Welsh whisky   Chris

[quote user="Dicksmith"] Placebos don't work on broken bones, cancer or loss of limbs, and neither does prayer, laying on of hands or immersion in 'holy' water. [/quote]   But they do work example on radio today, drug X is for stomach ulcers in tests it cures 70% in a month placebo only cures 40% question how does a sugar pill cure 40% of stomach ulcers in a month and no i don't think it is a miracle   Chris

[quote user="jond"]The exception seems to be ash. Ash, is far as I can see, is absolutely the best firewood, and it will burn quite cheerfully when green. Unsurprisingly, ash (frène) is not always easy to come by. [/quote]   Hence the old saying ash green fit for a queen Chris

[quote user="Weedon"]   What is Cuba famous for apart from heels? weedon [/quote]   how about big beards and captain scarlet hats   Chris

[quote user="Logan"]  I think the only glimmer of hope is that IF recombination to a human to human transmissible virus doesn't take place for a year or so, there may be adequate time for vaccine production. [/quote]   That might not be the case because to become human to human transmissible the virus needs to mutate and in doing so it might make all vaccines already produced useless, mind you it might also make the virus virtually harmless at the same time it is largely down to sheer luck   Chris

"The farmer might also consider his farming practices if this is a reguar occurence."   Better evacuate the sheep off the welsh mountains then Chris[&]

[quote user="Deimos"] <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> There are many, some of which have been discussed through his thread – maybe read back through the thread.  A classic example is the “need to control vermin” and yet captive breed/release.  The area of the countryside I’m referring to is Oxfordshire and the captive breeding “centre” is in the Banbury area. <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> I can only speak about areas where I have personal experience and re-stocking the fox population does damage relations with farmers.  However, local hunt’s do not seem to care to much about this (in fact their attitude is that they could not care less about anybody that does not fully agree and support whatever they chose to do).  So they do it anyway, hunt anyway, generate all the negative feelings in the local community.  However, most do not live in the local community but visit from the towns so there are well clear of local “ill feeling”. It is such a attitude that probably helps those who wish it banned and gives the pro-hunt people such a hard time to win any public support.  Were they to “court public opinion” a bit then they might have more success, but arrogant attitudes and not caring about the local/farming communities just alienates them from everybody. <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> [/quote]   Reading back through the thread I see some arguements for hunting are better than others but then I look at some of the twaddle and multiple untruths the antis come up with and as for the vermin arguement it is all relative if you live in an area where foxes take your livestock you might well consider them vermin. Not sure about captive breeding as I have never come across it before other than with thing such as pheasants and the like so I will not comment on that until I know more, however if the local farmers were so upset by this breeding program why did they not ban the hunt from their land, most of the people I hunted with were local to that area  and so were happy to be considerate to others as they were living in the comunity they were hunting in.The most arrogant and abusive attitudes to be seen on hunting day were from the antis, but I will not start a my anti story is worse than your hunt story arguement.  You are right about courting public opinion the antis do have a fairly easy time of it defending such a sweet looking creature however the hunting crowd have done allot of work on that front and many more national UK newspapers are somewhat more pro hunting than they once were.   Chris

If the pro-hunting lobby maintains that they are managing the countryside, then the fact that there is a need to re-stock on an ongoing basis shows that they are incapable of such management as their attempts have failed.  In this I am being generous and have not suggested that they are actually “managing” for short term self-interest (i.e. enjoyment and profit from their sport. Personally I disagree with the type of hunting carried out in the UK as outlawed in the recent new laws – but that is personal opinion.  What irritates me is the continuing untrue arguments and justifications being put forward by the pro-hunting lobby to try and overturn the new laws. Ian   There shouldn't be a need to restock I know there is no such need around here and in some livestock areas of the country it would damage relations with the farmers if it did take place where in the country are you referring to? What are the untrue arguments and justifications being put forward?   Chris 

Never called it anything other than a sport. Don't know enough about the french situation to say anything specific bar that there are nearly 100 packs of fox hounds in the country, plus any english ones that spring up in the next few months. Chris

[quote user="Deimos"] [quote user="crdale"] As are all animal numbers everywhere if there is not enough food to support the population numbers fall if over population occurs disease becomes a problem and numbers fall and so on. Chris   [/quote] <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> This is a massive over simplification as there are several different mechanisms applying to population dynamics in biology.  There are basically two types of animal in terms of population control “k-selectors” and “r-selectors”.  K-selection control their populations by virtue of the “carrying capacity” of the environment whilst R-selectors optimise on reproductive fate and “failure” of offspring.  The situation becomes more complex because the reproductive rate is not linear with the number of individuals – but rather “bouncy” (difficult to describe without drawing a picture”.  The reproductive rate vs the number of individuals tends to have several “stable” points in terms of feedback.  Under normal circumstances animal populations will remain at their  higher “stable point”.  However, things can happen (particularly when you get humans around) that can cause populations to drop and, should they drop sufficiently then they can move to a lower stable point from which it will be very difficult for the population to recover.  Typical examples as to techniques that can cause such populations drop include “harvesting” using the wrong techniques.  The classic example is fishing quotas based on catches – which, given that the Fisheries Authorities state that the quotas are set at the “maximum sustainable yield”, creates an unstable equilibrium.  Were they to e.g. license appropriately by e.g. gear (e.g. numbers of fishing boat days at sea) they the equilibrium would be stable as, when populations decline, so do catches and everything becomes self correcting.  With e.g. quotas at the maximum sustainable yield, catch one fish above the quote and in theory (if the quota is set exactly as Maximum sustainable yield) then the population will crash to the next lower stable population equilibrium point (normally much much lower population numbers). In situations where there is a need to start captive breeding clearly something in the population dynamics of “harvesting” has gone badly wrong.  Things like disease outbreaks are “self-correcting” and thus are not the cause of the need to captive breed (other than in the very short term).  This the most likely cause is the mismanagement of the fox population by those who claim their interest and abilities are in “managing the countryside”.  In practice I thing the evidence points to them managing their own sport and nothing to do with managing the countryside at all. <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> Ian <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--> [/quote] Are you using a complicated way of saying that over hunting has wiped out the fox population?   Chris

"That is a red herring ! Or are hunters so blood thirsty that it AS to be a live fox. Says a lot doesn't it?"   Not a red herring at all but simply pointing out that you are telling people to take up a different sport.  A sport that at first glance appear the same but when watched for a short while is quite obviously different. As I pointed out in an earlier post most of the followers do not see a kill so would be dissappointed if they attended for blood thirsty reasons, in fact I have never seen a fox killed while I have been hunting despite tending to ride near the front, I have however seen a fox in a snare (dead) and found a fox that had been shot and wounded and got away and died of its wounds some days later and they are both experiances I would not care to repeat.   Chris 

"Therefore they will be just as happy with drag hunting. ! "   Would you tell a football player he would be just as happy playing rugby or vice versa?   Chris