I WAS relieved to see the letter from Lynn Sawyer in last week’s paper protesting about the Journal’s hunt reports.

I too am saddened by the frequent, seemingly joyous reporting of hunt meets with no mention of the horrific killings involved, not to mention violence meted out to anti-hunt protesters who are just trying to uphold the law but, because the Journal seems to be so pro-hunt, I didn’t think there was any point in writing.

As to the letter from George Cowley which follows, I am not at all convinced that it is blood-lust that drives the fox.

Having seen the aftermath of a visit from the fox when I forgot to shut up our chicken coop one night, it seemed to me more likely that the fox, who is often living at the point of starvation, was killing as many hens as possible (in our case all of them) in the hope of coming back to collect the rest later or possibly even to silence them.

However, supposing Mr Cowley were right in his assumption, surely we as humans are supposed to be intelligent, compassionate and above such things.

Certainly we tolerate such behaviour in ourselves, chickens for human consumption suffering not just at the point of slaughter but all their lives, sheep being made to abort their lambs deliberately in order to make coats of very soft lamb fleeces for people like Madonna.

Then there is the deliberate blood lust on the part of us humans. I’m sure there is no need to provide examples.

To quote a man who has run a wilflife hospital for over 40 years, in athletic terms the fox is a sprinter whereas the hounds are built for marathon-running, a totally unfair contest.

As for the huntspeople being so worried about foxes dying slow deaths from gunshot wounds, are they not equally concerned when they send terriers down foxholes?

Surely wounds are inflicted on the fox then, or do the huntspeople follow the terriers down the holes to make sure the fox doesn’t suffer?

I could go on.

SALLY MANDER, Withy Trees Road, South Littleton.