I READ with interest your editorial on foxhunting ("The law on hunting with dogs must be toughened up", The Herald, November 22). It was crystal clear than once again there is a severe dearth of evidence that any illegal hunting with dogs has taken place.
The simple facts are that in spite of hundreds of hours of filming hunts by the League Against Cruel Sports it could not produce a single piece of evidence which showed any breach of the law. When it spliced unrelated clips to attempt to show law breaking it was so ridiculous that only the gullible would have believed it. It then tried to argue that it did not see any riflemen as required by law. It is stating the obvious to reply that any rifleman would remain hidden from the fox to enable a clean shot.
The attacks on hunting with dogs is just one component of the politics of wildlife. How often have we read correspondents in this paper using language which criticises participants in field sports for their imagined social position rather than actual factual comment? There is criticism of the clothing worn by participants but no mention of the hunt saboteurs who dress like terrorists and conceal their faces. I wonder why? The RSPB regularly criticises gamekeepers yet is silent on the fact that is also practises vermin control on their reserves.
It would appear that it is more important to wage class war than protect livestock from predation by foxes and other vermin.
David Stubley,
22 Templeton Crescent, Prestwick.
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