Letter: Foxy arguments

Sir: The arguments put forward by those who support fox hunting get sillier by the day (Letters, 7 November). First they argued that hunting was necessary to control fox numbers, then they claimed it was critical to the rural economy and that it had the support of most country people. Now that these claims have been disproved we are told that the real purpose of hunting is to provide a vulpine-friendly euthanasia service to relieve the suffering of elderly foxes in distress!

Hunting does not control fox numbers, it merely accelerates the turnover of the fox population - both the death and birth rates are increased, and most foxes are killed when barely mature. Thus hunting greatly increases fox suffering not only because the method of killing is cruel in the extreme, but also because the death rate is unnaturally high.

TERRY SESSFORD

Wincanton, Somerset