I HAVE been privileged to hunt all my life and totally support all that Mr John Haig wrote (January 16). As a society we have become increasingly intolerant of others whose ideas are different to our own. I can understand that for politicians it is easier to ban hunting than sort out crime, transport, the NHS, but I would warn them that we all feel very passionately about our sport and the right to enjoy it within the law.

If a ban is implemented many people will never forgive those who voted for it.

Rosemary Naylor.

Minister Hill,

Huttons Ambo,

York.

...AS a city dweller who was brought up in a rural environment and involved in agriculture for many years I support John Haigh's view on hunting.

I do not believe that the sentiments of the anti-hunting groups are correct or appropriate. They are ignorant of the implications of a hunting ban on the conservation of the countryside and the livelihood of the rural community.

How can Paul Stilgoe of the RSPCA think it is a reasonable to expect farmers to lamb all their ewes inside in order to protect them and the lambs? How can a group of people who steal a pack of hounds and remove them from the environment to which they are accustomed claim any credibility as animal lovers?

How can a government who have so many vital issues of concern to address justify spending so much time on a minority issue which has little impact on the urban population of this country? I feel strongly that this debate is being driven primarily by desire to destroy the freedom and recreation of one group of the rural community when a vast number of urbanites can no longer identify with our rural heritage.

Chris Jardine,

Mount Terrace,

York.

...I ENTIRELY agree with the reasons given by RSPCA Chief Inspector Paul Stilgoe in calling for a total ban on fox hunting.It is barbaric and cruel sport enjoyed by a self-indulgent section of society who given no thought to the stress caused to the fox in the chase.

Elizabeth C Earle

Dower Court,

William Plows Avenue,

York.

...FOX-hunting should have been banned many years ago. It is only the royals and the hooray brigade who set a bad example to the country by getting great delight in watching a beautiful creature being hunted to exhaustion and then ripped to pieces.

Our treatment of animals will some day be considered barbarous. There cannot be perfect civilisation until man realises that the rights of every living creature are as sacred as his own.

Kathleen Inns,

Bramham Avenue,

Acomb, York.

...WHY is it necessary and considered sporting to trap a fox, keep it in a sack and then at a designated area take the fox out of the sack and put a scent on the fox's pads?

And before anyone writes to complain that this is untrue, I followed the hunt a few years ago just once out of curiosity, as a member of my family was involved with a hunt.

In the Landrover in which I was travelling was a large dog fox. Later the fox was taken out of the sack and a special scent was put on to its pads. It was then released into the woods to leave a trail for the hounds. I was asked not to say anything to anyone as it would cause a lot of controversy.

I would just like to ask John Haigh if he considers that sportsmanlike? As he stated in his article "hounds follow the scent of a fox which may be some distance away" (January 16).

That in my mind is not giving the fox a very fair chance.

C Henson,

Moorcroft Road,

Woodthorpe,

York.

...I WOULD just like to voice my opinion on fox hunting. I disagree wholeheartedly with it.

Mrs Nelson,

Burrill Avenue, Clifton, York.

...FOX hunting: the old words about 'the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable' still apply. Remember the Indian gentleman who said "A nation will always be judged by the way it treats animals"?

It's 2001 now for heaven's sake. Enough said.

Stuart Sykes,

Blue Moon Trading,

Goodramgate, York.

Updated: 10:40 Friday, January 19, 2001