Hunt hounds bred to be top athletes (From Worcester News)

Hunt hounds bred to be top athletes

8:10am Friday 23rd April 2010 in Read

SIR – Luke Gregg (Letters, April 14) raised two points on hunting with hounds which exposed his lack of knowledge and practical understanding of the subject. Quoting from discredited animal rights propaganda, Mr Gregg continues to lecture us on how the countryside should be run.

His first point on animal welfare. Mr Gregg claims the fox is not instantly killed by hounds. Carefully edited video clips can give this impression.

The main reason is because hounds have been attacked with sticks, chemicals or kicked by hunt saboteurs.

Secondly, Mr Gregg claimed foxhounds are deliberately bred to run slowly to prolong the chase. This is totally untrue. For 250 years the breeding of hounds has been focused on them following scent at great speed across country. Put simply, hounds are superb athletes not slow coaches.

Jon Burgess
Malvern