REGARDING M N Sansome's letter (You Say, February 21), why should Mike Foster take note of Tim Pinney's claims about poisons and pest control?

Mr Pinney may be put on a pedestal by members of the Countryside Alliance, but to most of us, he is just an ordinary mortal.

Do I detect that N Sansome has some compassion about rats? Very strange when he/she has no feeling whatsoever about hunting a fox to its death over miles of countryside.

I know which death I would choose if I had to. Warfarin is a very powerful anti-blood clotting agent - I should not think that a rat would live too long after a good feed of it.

I do agree with him/her that it is cruel to cause unnecessary suffering to any living creature.

B A MATTHEWS,

Upton on Severn