No natural predators? Why don’t we start a petition to get the wolf brought back then? Or maybe just the lynx.. I suppose that wouldn’t be a popular decision with our countryside folks either. That parallels can be drawn between fox hunting and natural predation are rather contentious, especially given the fragmented nature of our countryside. If indeed fox numbers rise to such a level that they must be controlled, as you said, fox hunting is not very effective. Employ those people that might otherwise be employed by the hunt to bring the populations back down to sustainable levels through shooting. I’d say that that might be far more palatable for us uneducated urban dwellers. Fox hunting is heinous, I am not well-versed in the fors and againsts, however, any argument which attests the necessity of fox-hunting as a control measure is deeply deeply flawed.