I will never forget that look that the vixen threw from the hole to the four hunters, because this hole in which she was sitting had just been a cave in which she had found safety and refuge, but with shovels they had destroyed it, so that there was no longer any protection from the men with the shotguns, who were grinning at them and confident of victory. Her first, natural impulse would have been to run away, but she couldn’t, because then she would have had to leave her pounding little babies alone, which she could only shield with her body. Would they let themselves be softened, the great men with the deadly rifles? But no, they just laughed maliciously and shot cheerfully, first the vixen and then the babies, cowardly and wickedly. But we have to shoot the foxes, it is said. But that doesn’t mean that it has to be done that way.

So it will be much funnier if a dozen people gather on horses chasing a fox until he is so exhausted that he has no chance. In addition, they have a pack of dogs with them. It is a social event. If you want it cheaper and easier, you can attack the fox right away. Of course, not personally, but the dog tracks down the fox and pulls it out. The dog has to practice this beforehand. Foxes are captured and placed in a simulated building. And the dog is instructed. At the end he has to pass an exam and receives a medal. Which the dog is very proud of, as far as it survives or does not suffer from severe injuries. But hunting is progressive and animal friendly. Therefore, the practice of training is not given up, but there is a grid between the dog and the fox, so that the dog can learn, but nothing happens to the fox. „No, no, the fox is not panicked,“ explains the hunter in charge, „He is completely phlegmatic because he is used to it from an early age. After all, he knows nothing else.” But why are foxes shot at all, I dare to ask. Well, because the fox is tearing the deer, I’m being told. You can’t do anything with the fur. You get almost nothing for that. And besides, you would have to shoot so many deer because they are so prevalent. I lack the courage to draw attention to the contradiction. The fox also ensures that the mouse population is kept within limits. If foxes are shot, the mice take over and destroy the harvest, but in this case the hunters show little solidarity with the farmers, as they otherwise do e.g. like to look outside when curbing wild boar. Ultimately, there is only one explanation that makes the hunting of the fox seem plausible, at least from the hunter’s point of view. The fox is a predator and therefore a competitor. And just as you had to exterminate jackals, wolves and bears as quickly as possible, so do the fox. Because then you have a plausible explanation of having to shoot deer, roe deer and wild boar, which happily reproduce for lack of natural enemies. One cannot avoid the suspicion that every hunter’s intervention in nature only leads to more problems than there were before. What is more, there would be hardly any problems if the so-called gamekeepers would not make themselves important and simply leave nature in peace. Of course, it is no longer that simple after humans have destroyed most of the natural habitat of most wild animals. No matter how you look at it, hunting is nothing more than a desire to kill and submit. Especially in small game hunting, where hundreds of animals are murdered at the same time during a single hunt, the bodies are simply disposed of afterwards. Death cannot be more senseless.

And I could only hope that they would do it quickly, the men with the guns standing around the hole into which the vixen ducked with her babies. Quick and accurate, so as not to make them suffer even more, although I can’t help but think that the more fun it is, the more frightened the vixen is because it confirms her power and potency, but I can also be wrong .