Letter: Fox and hounds

Sir: Even at the abyss of abolition, the hunting community persist in clinging to the thinking that has so nearly cost them the argument. To snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, the fox-hunters must now volunteer compromise and begin to think radically. The only people with an absolute need for the fox in the countryside are the hunters. To the hunter, the fox is vital. Yet they act like the fox's enemy. If the fox is such a pest, why do they not seek to eradicate it? Because, in truth, the fox is not a pest.

It is time for the hunting community to start living in the world as it is today. Hunts should be seen as the protector of the fox, not as its enemy.

Hunts should be responsible for the welfare of the fox population and for the habitat in which it lives. Hunts should want a thriving fox community, culling to numbers at sustainable levels.

K D KNIGHT

Newent, Gloucestershire