LIKE most "townies" I know little about countryside activities, but out of common sense, I accept that both sides of the hunting and shooting lobbies are exaggerating their arguments.

So can some unbiased person tell us exactly what goes on on the hunting fields? How long does the average chase last and how many foxes or deer are in fact ripped to pieces by hounds?

Is, as is perceived by most people, hunting and shooting the prerogative of the rich or are many "ordinary" people involved? Will doing away with hunting activities of all kinds in any way improve the conditions of wildlife in the countryside?

Personally, I cannot see the pleasure in killing any animal that I am not going to eat. However, I can accept that shooting game birds in the open fields is probably far more humane than what happens to the average chicken at the slaughterhouse.

I have been told that the animal activist groups when they liberated mink from farms did far more damage to the countryside wildlife than all the farmers and hunters put together.

I remember the hand gun lobby which promised that doing away with legally-owned handguns would make our streets safer, even though reading the papers reveals how inaccurate this prediction was, so are the anti-hunting lobby sure that their activities won't be counter-productive?

L LAWES, Bold Street, Blackburn.