REGARDING J Young's views against cruel sports (Letters, October 14), I was born and bred in the country -- Cumbria, to be exact - and I've hunted foxes. Make no mistake, they are vermin.

I've witnessed first hand the lambs they have killed; chickens - an entire coop, for the fun of it; geese, which were our money for the winter months, gone in a night, not for food, just for the sport of killing.

Don't be misled, foxes are not cuddly pets; they are wild creatures, scavengers and killers.

But if Mr Young wants support to stop deer hunting by people on horses and chasing them until they drop, I'll support that.

I've no time for them. Most are not farmers - they are people trying to be gentry, which they are not.

I also know that first hand. Get them off their horses to hunt on foot in the fells of the Lakelands and they wouldn't survive more than two miles.

Stop cruel sports, but define them. To lump fox-hunting in with blood sports is misleading and a smokescreen.

Here is a short list of what I class as cruel sports: hare coursing, badger baiting, otter hunting, dog fighting and controlled grouse shooting.

But, please, Mr Young, don't put up smokescreens on fox hunting. Believe me, it is necessary.

MR J G MONKHOUSE, Kent Walk, Helmshore.