Fox-hunting — conflicting attitudes between urban dwellers and farmers

Foxes breed prolifically and a vixen can have five cubs per year, which reach adulthood in about eight months. In ideal conditions, a fox can live for 10 years, but most only last for two, or three

A seven-week-old vixen fox cub. Foxes are not a protected species here so they can be legally shot and trapped — though it is illegal to poison them. Picture: Chris Radburn/PA Wire

Moves to ban fox-hunting in Ireland are showing up sharply conflicting attitudes between urban dwellers and farmers.

Some city and town folk feed wild foxes, in effect inviting them to their backyards and virtually treating them like visiting 'pets', while their farmer cousins see foxes as a pest.