Chasing logic of the hunt (From Oxford Mail)

Chasing logic of the hunt

12:40pm Tuesday 3rd January 2012 in Letters

With reference to the article on the Heythrop Hunt Boxing Day meet, you quote deputy Huntmaster Richard Sumner as saying: “There needs to be some sort of fox control and other methods are far more cruel than hunting.”

Imagine, if you will, that there were too many huntsmen at large in the countryside and control was necessary. Would it be Mr Sumner’s first choice to be chased until he could run no further, and then ripped to pieces by dogs? I doubt it!

I do not dispute that it is sometimes necessary to control the fox population, but the method used by Mr Sumner and his fellows is a barbaric anachronism in this day and age.

Peter Brain, Kidlington