Sir, – No letter advocating the abolition of foxhunting should go unchallenged (December 26th). About 20 years ago, living in Wales, it was always a delight to see the hunt trotting down past our house, the master of fox hounds with a face to match his scarlet coat, presumably courtesy of too many stirrup cups. The hunting horn, echoing off the rock faces of the old slate quarry, took one back to a nobler time.
Foxes abounded in that area. One would meet them trotting across the lane in broad daylight, as bold as brass. The field banks were riddled with their dens. No chicken was safe. If they had not been hunted, they would have had to be shot.
These days, I believe we spend too much time considering the other person’s position and welfare, to the neglect of our own. The fox has his agenda, and I have mine. When he starts campaigning for the abolition of income tax, I will embrace him as a fellow creature. Until then, he must be considered fair game. – Yours, etc,
PAUL GRIFFIN,
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St. Helens,
Merseyside, UK.
Sir, – At least John Fitzgerald (Letters, December 26th) and other like-minded people can sleep easy in the knowledge that for the duration of the current Level 5 restrictions, we won’t have to witness episodes of “the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable”.What’s respite for the anti-hunt activist is respite for the persecuted fox.
Instead of trying to placate both the pro- and the anti-hunt lobbies,why doesn’t the Government now do the humane thing and simply introduce an outright ban on the barbarous activity of foxhunting? Indeed, it could ban all blood sports, even if it meant suffering the wrath of a sizable proportion of rural voters.You can’t run with the hare and hunt with the hounds in perpetuity. So let this administration dispense with the pusillanimity, take its courage in both hands,and introduce legislation that would prohibit the right of humans to inflict gratuitous pain and suffering on poor defenceless animals. – Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.