Sources: A cowardly prick and a dead fox / Joules

   There are few fashion statements as willfully provocative as openly endorsing the bloody, barbaric and carnal slaughter of wild animals with heritage print designs. Yet, to my surprise, a trip to a local branch of Joules saw my disbelieving eyes confronted with an array of goods all celebrating the vicious pursuit of fox hunting in joyful, pastel colours.

   Many a times the argument has been made that fox hunting is solely a means of pest control - nothing more, nothing less. Quite frankly, this is a nonsense sentiment; no one in their right mind observes the killing of other pests, rodents and bugs, as a spectator sport. To even call fox-hunting "sport" is to bastardise the English language in an unforgivable manner - "sport" implies a level of competition, something not afforded to the foxes who are ceremoniously torn limb from limb in front of rabid, baying hunters. Evidently, this is the type of activity Joules would like to be associated with.

   In the world of pest control, those responsible for killing rats and bugs don't don fancy attire before indulging in pomp, making a show of destroying their prey with machines or other beasts. It's a necessary evil and to take joy from such activities would transcend the bizarre; delight over the death of another living thing is venomous and unspeakably nasty.

   Scientists, including Steven Harris and David MacDonald, have shown over and over that an absence of fox hunting has negligible impact on lamb mortality rates. If farmers make a decent effort to fence in their chickens then, excusing the possibility of foxes developing opposable thumbs and mastering tool use, their poultry can be protected with very little effort too. Without moral or scientific rationality on their side, what rights do people have to torture, maim, eviscerate and ultimately annihilate animals? It's also worth nothing that psychologists have often pointed out that those who are capable of torturing animals often progress onto delinquency, violence and inflicting misery onto humans too . Is this Joules target audience?




   I am to assume that Joules, as a company, are pro fox hunting and this is their (misguided) right. But to stock these products? At the very least, Joules must have known the designs to be controversial and upsetting so to stock so many pro-hunt items is crass and insensitive. But I guess all tastes have to be catered for. If you'd like people to know you support the destruction of Britain's wildlife why not show it with a Kindle case or umbrella?

   If you find nothing more stylish than the thought of a fox with it's entrails clawed out, why not suggest it with a delightful blouse?