Emily. Thankfully we don't have Rabies in this country. One of the reasons we've got strict quarantine laws.

BikeMomma. Unfortunately (or fortunately for the fox) Fox Hunting was outlawed a couple of years ago. Yet again a vociferous, politically correct bunch of animal rightists made a lot of noise and the government backed them with no regard for people living in the countryside who lose livestock because of foxes.

I'm neither for nor against fox-hunting (being a "Townie") but my late mother grew up in the farming community and she said if a fox gets into a henhouse it won't just kill one chicken and eat it, it will kill the whole lot. The foxes attack the weaker lambs in the lambing season too but the government listened to the PC brigade as usual and not to the people who really matter - those who lose livestock.

In town we have urban foxes. They are a pest and should be classed as vermin. We're overrun by them Most of them carry mange which can pass to your cat or dog and they raid rubbish (garbage) bins, knock them over, rip open plastic sacks full of rubbish and in general make a terrible mess. They're bold too. I caught one in my garden last year - and he/she was a big one. Didn't seem to be the least bit afraid of me, just went out the gate, went about 5 yards turned and looked at me for some time, almost defiant, before going on his/her way.

I think they do "drag" hunting now where someone sets off sometime before the hunt trailing an animal carcase (from the butchers) for the hounds to scent. The Countryside Alliance is still trying to overturn the ban. The government we've got has gone ban-crazy - the latest being smoking (we've got a really vindictive smoking ban here since 1st July - so vindictive many non-smokers are up in arms about it). Now this inept, dictorial government is turning it's banning attention to alcohol and food. Most people are sick to the back teeth of being told what they can and can't do all the time.