WE ALL live in a world of hypocrisy, and this country isn't an exemption.

Here we have the group protesting about local hunts, where horses and hounds are used to flush out the fox, then give chase, with horse and rider jumping hedges and fences and risking life and limb across the local countryside. The protesters say it's cruel to chase this animal with hounds, only they call them dogs. Although I am not a countryman in birth, I know it's a more effective way of reducing this pest.

The alternative is snaring, and using the shotgun. An ordinary rifle is difficult to kill with outright, with such a small moving target.The fox is a cunning, vicious carnivore, killing dropped lambs after birth. It kills chickens -- not just one for its meal, but every chicken in the hencoop, tearing them to pieces. There are many other acts of cruelty taking place every week at our local abattoirs, where there are rooms set aside for other forms of slaughter.

As for the other group defending their right to hunt with horses and hounds, it's been a long-standing tradition within the countryside. Even John Peel, a legend in his time, hunted with his own hounds from dawn till dusk.

One thing I don't agree with is the taking of a fox bred in captivity, and used by the hunt, where its lands have no wild foxes in that county, which makes a mockery of the whole business.

Edward G Hill

Wemsley Grove

Tonge Moor

Bolton