Try humane drags (From Bucks Free Press)

Try humane drags

4:32pm Tuesday 24th January 2006 in Your Letters

NOW that the Animal Welfare Bill has passed its second reading, clearly the advice to keep up hunt monitoring and police involvement makes sound sense. ("Keep Hounding The Hunters," Letters, January 6).

The Bill gives RSPCA inspectors extra power to enter private property where suspected animal abuse is taking place, and the Association of Chief Police Officers is calling for similar powers to stage illegal live animal hunting. On January 6 Cotswold Hounds ostensibly hunting a drag line scent chased a fox through a hole in netting across a dual carriageway resulting in a fatal hound-car collision.

Clearly it is in the public interest to enforce the Hunting Act as effectively as possible. We Buckinghamshire and Berkshire and other drag hunts have enjoyed impressive support for decades, and foxhounds have recently proved themselves highly competent on drag line scents in spite of years of foxhunting, so what is the point (apart from enjoying the harassment and killing of an animal) of "fighting the ban"?

Miss Katherine Watson , Stockport