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Trouble at the Mairie


Gardian
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I went to the Mairie this morning to drop in a letter for the Maire - she's usually there on Saturday mornings and I was hoping to have a quiet word.

Horror of horrors!  Got to the door of the Mairie to find a pigeon with it's throat cut hanging from the door handle: there was another one on the floor which had presumably fallen off.  Not nice & I made a hasty retreat (there didn't appear to be anybody around).

I told my neighbour about it when I got back.  They said that its a local paysan thing, where they normally put up a crow and its meant to be a sort-of curse. 

There's been a lot of bad feeling in the commune in recent years, with two of the old clans quarrelling. We thought that it had all died down with the election of the current Maire a couple of years ago.

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Yes, I suppose that it was pretty innocuous in the overall scheme of things.

I did suggest to Michel (our neighbour) that if he moved fast, he could nip up to the Mairie and bag himself a nice brace of Pigeon, which he could have a Chasseur tonight. "Ah, the English sense of humour, non?"

This obviously sparked something off: he went on to tell me that he'd been reading a book about the glorious French vs the duplicitous Anglais over the centuries. Napoleon was a good bloke, who'd been ganged up on by the Anglais, Prusses, Italiens, Polonnais, etc. (probably the Australians too!!)

"Yes, but he invaded Russia, did he not?", said I.  "But that was only to save the people from their oppressive regime + you the treacherous Anglais connived in it all".  "You're the only rosbif I'm prepared to talk to".

Time to bale out of that one, I thought.[;-)]

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[quote user="Gardian"]Got to the door of the Mairie to find a pigeon with it's throat cut hanging from the door handle: there was another one on the floor which had presumably fallen off.  [/quote]

It was probably just a meat delivery. I love pigeon casserole. In England, we frequently used to arrive home to find a brace of pheasant or ducks hanging from our front door but we considered it a gift, not a curse. [:P]

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[quote user="Catalpa"][quote user="Gardian"]Got to the door of the Mairie to find a pigeon with it's throat cut hanging from the door handle: there was another one on the floor which had presumably fallen off.  [/quote]

It was probably just a meat delivery. I love pigeon casserole. In England, we frequently used to arrive home to find a brace of pheasant or ducks hanging from our front door but we considered it a gift, not a curse. [:P]

[/quote]

It's possible - the chasse were out near us recently shooting pigeons, as they eat the sunflower seeds, which are just ready for harvesting.

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In the past three months or so, there have been 6 or 7 dead foxes nailed to the sign at the entrance to the farm here. Gotta love land disputes with the neighbours eh?

Interestingly, When I was asking if this had any particular meaning, I was told (although the source is highly suspect) that its NOT bad JuJu but suposedly a sign that the local, friendly poacher has passed through and taken care of any foxes that might have been troubling you.

However, I heard this from the district nurse, who heard this from the wife of the chap who is doing it!

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Things aren't always what they seem. Some years ago when I was looking after some baby owls, I asked the kids at school to bring any road kill that they found and leave it by my car. We had a supply teacher in for a few days and she thought it was awful that the children were trying to put 'a hex' on me.

Hoddy
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I never quite understood the icident with the babies. Foxes are quite capable of killing another creature, and I would have thought that they would have gone for the throat, but they didn't, well I cannot remember hearing that they did. I have wondered if they were trying to move the babies especially if they were crying, rather than attacking them and that is how the babies were injured.

Perhaps I am overthinking this, am I?
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[quote user="Catalpa"][quote user="Afy"]Just look at what is happening in the UK thanks to the hunting ban. [/quote]
What is happening in the UK due to the hunting ban? [8-)]
[/quote]

Basically nothing.

The law may have been passed banning fox hunting but only one prosecution (back in 2006) has ever been successful. The other prosecutions bought both privately and by the police have all failed due to lack of evidence. Most courts in England and Scotland believe the cost of prosecuting people for this offence is a waste. The police, as always, claim they don't have the man power to catch fox hunters, so basically it continues as it has done for the last couple of hundred years.

My personal problem with fox hunting is two fold. I don't like people who think I am stupid enough, when they are all dressed up sitting on magnificent and expensive horses, to believe they are only doing it to keep the fox population down. Its all for show, a day out, a meal and a good old drink. The other thing I hated when living in the country was the inconvenience. Trips across country could take three or four times as long as you picked your way through all the cars parked in narrow country roads by the hunt followers with no respect for others going about their business.

Fox's are a problem in the countryside especially for farmers. They normally can't afford to hunt, thats for the rich, they can't lay poison because it can kill other wildlife and these days getting your hands on a gun to shoot them has become quite difficult or so we are told.

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Well its not just Fox hunting, but hunting per se.

In southern england most deer species can be classified as vermin. Foxes are not an issue in the countryside alone.

My sister lives in harrow on the hill, which is anything but the countryside and even that area is over run with Foxes.

Rabbit, Deer, Foxes, Pigeons et al. Hunting is a means to control populations, since there are no real predators other than man.
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Latest Fox attack on humans in their homes was recently reported in Fulham.. Woman left her window open a bit so her cat could  get in and out as it does  and a fox entered the house  while she slept jumped up on her bed and sunk its teeth into her ear .Town  foxes are showing no fear of  humans .Too many being fed by people who want to see them in their gardens ... People are putting out fox food like they put out bird seed and changing the behaviour of the animal .
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[quote user="Afy"]Well its not just Fox hunting, but hunting per se. In southern england most deer species can be classified as vermin. Foxes are not an issue in the countryside alone. My sister lives in harrow on the hill, which is anything but the countryside and even that area is over run with Foxes. Rabbit, Deer, Foxes, Pigeons et al. Hunting is a means to control populations, since there are no real predators other than man.[/quote]

I think the big difference is in the terms 'hunting' and 'Fox hunting' which in my book are two different things. Fox hunting done with horse and hound is for the gratification of a minority and in this day and age really is not an efficient way of dealing with fox's. Hunting deer is usually done by stalking and then 'Sharpe shooting' by professionals who only take a 'kill' shot which, whilst not nice, does cause the animal the minimum of distress in 99.9% of the cases. In 2004 the then government gave permission for the culling of around 10,000 deer by this method because of the destruction they were causing to the countryside. In a way its a shame because its man that has destroyed their natural habitat over the years. Rabbit has always been hunted or trapped, I don't like the latter system, its a bit cruel but at least people can and do eat them. Pigeons, I can't comment on but they do keep popping up on menus here in France although I am sure somebody will say that ones you are talking about are different.from the ones you eat.

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Country Foxes and town foxes may as well be a different animal as the problems are very different, surfice to say that killing one fox only makes room for another to move in !

And since the fox population did not increase when hunting was stopped doing the foot and mouth epidemic its a pretty safe bet that Fox hunting with a horse and hounds is not an efficient methos of fox population control

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[quote user="Christine Animal"]

Yes, what is happening in the UK due to the hunting ban?  

[/quote]

Hunting continues - though not through the summer, obviously.

My question to Afy related to the fact the only foxes recently in the news (afaiaa) are urban foxes... and packs of hounds tend not to be an efficient - or welcome! - means of control in Islington, Highgate, Fulham or even Brixton. Not to mention Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham and all the other major conurbations with a surfeit of foxes who have lost their fear of man due to man often proving itself to be a kind and frequent purveyor of food. And lots of it. Leading to more frequent breeding cycles with higher number of cubs per litter many of whom then start scrapping for territories before breeding more frequently with higher numbers of cubs...

As is often the case, man is the problem.

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Trouble with that form of hunting is those that take part often contradict themselves i.e. "Fox hunting helps control fox's" followed by "The ones we catch are often diseased and ill (i.e. they will probably die anyway)" so its not exactly controlling fox's is it. Talking to members of a hunt near where we were in Northamptonshire they hardly ever got a fox anyway. Bit like round here when they go out shooting twice a week, lucky if they get one boar a season.
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[quote user="Quillan"]They normally can't afford to hunt, thats for the rich...[/quote]

Oh dear, Q. You're a bit behind with the prejudices. More people are hunting since the ban and from a much wider social base. And farmers have always been members of hunts, continue to be so, and the fees are on a sliding scale anyway.

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