Weaker animals do the attacking (From Worcester News)

Weaker animals do the attacking

8:00am Monday 2nd February 2009 in

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SIR – Douglas Batchelor, League Against Cruel Sports (Letters, January 26) was right to confirm that traditional hunting helped maintain a sustainable and healthy fox population by culling the weaker injured and diseased animals.

However, he was wrong to suggest the resulting fitter animals would be more likely to attack farm livestock. In fact it is the fox weakened by injury or illness that will put itself at risk venturing into the lambing pens or free range piggery to kill.

Mr Batchelor insists on touting the discredited opinion poll by which he claims 75 per cent of the population support the hunting ban. The poll clearly failed to meet the industry standards of promoting fair and honest public opinion. Mr Batchelor claims farmers views were expressed in the poll, but after consulting some 30 pages of facts and figures there appears to be no reference to farmers at all.

I would be more inclined to accept Mr Batchelor’s questionable opinion poll if he would answer one question for me. Why have two chairmen, two chief executives, one head of operations and an undercover investigator departed well paid jobs at LACS Ltd to support traditional hunting on the grounds that a ban would cause a severe decline in animal welfare?

Jon Burgess,
Worcester.