Your report of hunting in Scotland carried a picture of a fox hunt and details of a meeting beside a report of our poll indicating public support for a ban to remain in place ("First hunt", The Herald, December 27).
While the polling released by the League Against Cruel Sports, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the RSCPA is extremely heartening as it shows that there is public support for a continued ban on foxhunting across the UK, the Scottish public should not be lulled into a false sense of complacency over foxhunting.
We suspect that many hunts are flouting the current law, which shows the increasing need for enforcement in this area. Indeed the Scottish Government's Wildlife Crime Report indicates that out of five attempted prosecutions in 2011/2012, there were no resulting convictions. We hope to see this change in the near future, so that the law offers the protection to the hunted animal as originally intended. Let us hope that 2014 is a better year for prosecutions for illegal hunting, as well as other wildlife crimes.
Jennifer Dunn,
Senior Public Affairs Officer for Scotland, The League Against Cruel Sports, New Sparling House, Holloway Hill, Godalming, Surrey.
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