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Do you think fox hunting should be banned as a sport?

LONDON (Reuters) - A three-day debate bringing together pro- and anti-fox hunting groups has begun in a bid to thrash out a compromise on this emotive pastime. Although the majority of people are in a favour of banning the hunting of wild animals using dogs, a significant minority of mainly rural people are staunch supporters. The debate, under the aegis of rural affairs minister Alun Michael, will allow the three main interest groups, the Campaign for the Protection of Hunted Animals, the Countryside Alliance and the Middle Way Group, to hear from a range of experts. 'It is to the credit of the three main organisations that they have entered into this innovative process without in any way surrendering their strong-held convictions,' Michael said in a statement last month outlining the details of the hearings. Moves to ban hunting have been rumbling on for many years and there is increasing disquiet that the issue has not been resolved one way or another. A MORI poll released on Monday showed that just under three quarters of voters believe the government has taken too long to resolve the hunting debate. The government has promised a free vote on a hunting ban, but earlier in the year announced the three-day debate as a means to 'search for common ground'. Criticism has also been voiced that Prime Minister Tony Blair is worried about alienating rural voters if his government is seen to be actively backing a ban. Fox hunters wearing red coats, shiny boots and riding specially-bred horses have been chasing and sometimes killing foxes using packs of hounds for the past 300 years. The pastime has some high-profile supporters, notably Prince Charles. Supporters say hunting with dogs helps keep down the number of foxes, regarded as vermin by many farmers, in the most natural way. A ban, they say, would also cost thousands of rural jobs that depend on hunting. Opponents of hunting, who include Blair, say it is cruel, barbaric and out of place in the 21st centur

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