IT IS totally barbaric to hunt foxes with packs of hounds and the fines imposed on the Heythrop Hunt (December 17) should have been triple the £26,000 the judge handed out.

There is no need to destroy foxes this way, in the pretence that it is necessary to control numbers. In my travels around the county, barely a week goes by without seeing a fox carcass somewhere on the side of the road, horribly mutilated through being hit at speed by a passing vehicle.

During the breeding season, any cubs will also perish if it is the (vixen) mother that is killed, as no food will be brought to them.

ADRIAN TAYLOR Duncan Close Eynsham