AR-News: (UK) The hounds are coming...

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

independent.co.uk 
...and they're after Rich Cookson, who, covered in a variety of ghastly but 
dog-friendly scents, has offered himself up as prey for a day's drag-hunting in 
the New Forest. But does this non-fatal alternative to bloodsports still 
carry the same thrill of the chase?
19 April 2004 
I have rarely smelt this bad. My legs and hands are covered in a mixture of 
vegetable oil, artificial rabbit scent, dog biscuits, canine saliva and a 
chemical that smells uncannily like chicken tikka masala. It's also an unseasonably 
hot day, and running up this hill isn't making me smell any sweeter.
Dragging along behind me, on a piece of twine, is a sock that's been stuffed 
with pebbles and rags, and liberally doused with the oil, rabbit-juice and 
curry powder. Wherever I run, it leaves an invisible trial that, somewhere in the 
woods below, seven sharp-nosed hounds are following to track me down.
It may be distinctly low-tech, but this malodorous sock-on-a-string is at the 
heart of a country sport that could see a massive surge in popularity if the 
Government makes good its election promise to ban hunting with hounds. 
Drag-hunting is similar to conventional hunting in many respects, except that hunters 
and their hounds follow an artificial scent laid by a runner or a pony, 
rather than chasing live animals such as foxes or deer. On the face of it, this 
"cruelty-free" brand appears to offer a neat compromise between animal-welfare 
campaigners and hunting supporters - but many die-hard hunters simply don't see 
it that way.
There is one other important distinction, especially for me as today's 
quarry: I won't be mauled by a pack of hungry dogs and then shot, when they 
eventually track me down. At least, that's what they told me back at the car...






full story:

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=512880 


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"True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to fore only 
when its recipient has no power. Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test 
(which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those 
who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a 
fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it." 

Milo Kundera 
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