WHILE foxhunting has featured prominently in the news in recent months, I wonder how many are aware of the existence of cubhunting, which begins this month? Each year, hunts shoot hounds which have reached the age of five or six, as they are considered too old to hunt. The new young hounds which replace them must be trained in the art of savaging and killing foxes and this is where cubhunting comes in. Cubhunting takes place at dawn, deep in the countryside, with only chosen, hardened followers invited to witness the four-month-old cubs being dug out and mauled to death by the inexperienced young hounds.

Hunters admit that it is essential to the training process that the new hounds learn to be savage with the fox before he is killed. A sleeping cub killed quickly by a couple of hounds is of no use to the rest of the pack, who will only wander up after everything is over to see what happened and nothing would have been learned.

Opposition to this carnage has never been greater. Twenty thousand people recently took part in a National Anti-Hunt Campaign march through London and a Bill to ban hunting has been introduced in parliament.

However, we cannot be complacent. Hunt supporters will use every trick in the book to sabotage this Bill and we need the help of your readers if it is to stand any chance of becoming law.

Any reader wishing to help should write for a free information pack.

PETER WARD, The National Anti-Hunt Campaign, PO Box 66, Stevenage, Herts, SG1 2TR.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.