The pursuit of a fox across country on
horseback, aided by a pack of foxhounds,
specially trained to track the fox's scent.
The aim is to catch and kill the fox. In
draghunting, hounds pursue a prepared trail
rather than a fox. Described by the
playwright Oscar Wilde as `the unspeakable in
pursuit of the uneatable', fox-hunting has
met with increasing opposition. Animal-rights
activists condemn it as involving excessive
cruelty, and in Britain groups such as the
Hunt Saboteurs disrupt it. Fox-hunting dates
from the late 17th century, when it arose as
a practical method of limiting the fox
population which endangered poultry farming,
but by the early 19th century it was indulged
in as a sport by the British aristocracy and
gentry who ceremonialized it. Fox-hunting was
introduced into the USA by early settlers
from England and continues in the S and
middle Atlantic regions. English `hunts'
(organized groups of hunters) include the
Quorn, Pytchley, Belvoir, and Cottesmore. The
recognized fox-hunting season runs from the
first Monday in November until the following
April.