YOUR anti-hunting correspondent did me a great disservice by withholding their name and address for fear of what could happen by messing about with people presumably like me who supposedly 'kill for pleasure'. I can assure the rather sad individual that I am in fact a gentle soul from whom they've nothing to fear. More worrying by far are those fanatics and bullies who subscribe to an animal rights agenda that has led to intimidation, vandalism and bombing campaigns against fellow humans with whom they happen to disagree.

It might interest you to know that I came to the cause of the hunters from a background as lifelong angler. There is virtually no criticism of hunting that cannot be applied to angling, and in particular to coarse fishing where fish are hooked, fought, landed and returned alive simply for the sake of catching them. Hunting and shooting can be legitimised because the animals that are hunted or shot are classed as vermin or pests, or they can be eaten. But the same can't be said of coarse fishing (which is a popular, predominantly urban, working class pastime). In spite of this, I've yet to hear any politician convincingly explain why hunting is worthy of criminalisation by Act of Parliament, yet the future of fishing in the UK is secure. These politicians are either lying, or there is another agenda at work, and given what now appear to be the enduring prejudices of Labour, I suspect the latter. Consequently I and the Alliance will staunchly defend the rights of a predominantly decent, law-abiding minority to pursue activities with which they have absolutely no problem whatsoever, against an illiberal government who think they can score political points by vindictively destroying what for many people in rural areas is a way of life.

Finally the reasons that drag hunting will never replace quarry hunting have been well aired; greater riding skills are required of participants, and far more land is needed for riding over. The Government Inquiry team headed by Lord Burns who investigated hunting earlier this year concluded that like was not being compared with like, in respect of quarry and drag hunting. I suggest that 'name and address withheld' reads the report (available online.) The quintessential appeal of most sports is that the outcome of any sporting event is unknowable and unpredictable. The knowledge that scent for a drag hunt has been consciously laid removes the mystery that is at the heart of quarry hunting.

Were you a serious football fan, wouldn't the knowledge that a football match had been rigged, even if you didn't know the score, severely reduce its appeal?

David Stocker