Well argued sir!
As I said, I think we're probably better off without it. When you take all the arguments together, they are pretty discomforting, but I'm not 100% convinced that they hang together well enough to pass a law against it.

Also you could argue that it differs from bear-baiting, dog-fighting, cock-fighting and so forth in that (1) it does kill vermin (albeit inefficiently) and so serve some purpose other than entertainment and (2) it involves hunting animals in their wild habitat rather than capturing and/or training an animal specifically to fight for the purposes of entertainment.

Edit: 'Whether or not it matters to the animal if its death was an unfortunate consequence or the intended effect - it matters to me. The intent behind the action matters, to me.'

I find this quite odd. As Ring of Fire said, presumably the aim is a reduction in cruelty. It does sound like what you dislike is not the suffering, but that there are other people out there who think differently.
(flimflam_machine, Fri 28 May 2010, 16:00, 1 reply)

As I mentioned
I dislike both. I have no wish to see an animal die in pain, and question the morality of those who gain pleasure from such. The fact that I dislike the intent of the 'hunters' in no way detracts from my dislike of the unpleasantly-brutal killing of the fox. It's not a dichotomy, it's all part of a whole; if I hate to see an animal suffer, I'm obviously going to have certain conceptual difficulties with those for whom it is a matter of enjoyment.

As to your thoughts on the ban, below - although the legality (or lack thereof) was never really a part of my point - I don't think you need any stronger grounds for a change in law other than a change in what the majority of people deem to be acceptable behaviour within the society they jointly form. There is no transcendental 'right' or 'wrong' against which we can measure our actions; it's all subjective, and decided by common concensus. The strength of feeling on this debate gradually swung towards 'wrong' - and it was consequently banned.

I don't really miss it.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Fri 28 May 2010, 17:09, closed)