TYPICALLY of pro-hunt supporters, B. Lammas appears short on facts but long on misinformation in his/her recent letter.

The claim that 'the fox is officially classified by DEFRA as vermin' and 'hounds do an efficient job of pest control' is laughable.

Their understanding of fox biology is obviously limited to the pursuit and slaughter of the animal and repeats the dual myth that foxes need controlling and that hunting provides that control. Research has shown that to have any controlling influence on the fox population, more than 70 per cent of foxes would need to be killed annually.

Hunting kills some 15,000 foxes in a very brutal manner each year, yet this equates to a mere three per cent of the population and clearly has no controlling effect.

It's also clear he was not party to the recently leaked e-mail between Simon Hart, chairman of the Countryside Alliance and Lord Daresbury. His Lordship had apparently written to some 800 hunt masters and chairmen complaining of a shortage of foxes for hunting.

The solution? Persuade land-owning hunt subscribers to encourage more foxes to breed! Of course, the hunters could then come galloping along to control them. In his memo Hart admits that should this come to light 'we (the hunters) would be ridiculed in Parliament, the press and in all parts of Britain'. Quite.

Lets face it: hunting a living creature to its death using a pack of dogs and gaining. pleasure from the spectacle is abhorrent behaviour. It is certainly not prejudice that has brought us this close to a hunting ban, but disgust by normal people at the cruelty involved.

Maurice Brett

Linehouse Lane

Bromsgrove