SHEEP and foxes both suffer needlessly at the hands of man. Fifteen years ago the British Association for the Advancement of Science revealed that, each year, some two million lambs die unnecessarily due to poor husbandry. Now, the situation is no better. In 1995, the Ministry of Agriculture reports that up to four million lambs die annually, mostly in the period from just before lambing up to a week of age. Of these the loss to "predators and misadventure" is just five per cent.

There are many predators beside the traditional scapegoat, the fox. Perhaps the most troublesome is the dog. The rural community has known this for years. Foxhounds are also very effective killers of lambs. Some years ago a pack ran amok at a farm near Lampeter, killing 26 lambs.

Bloodsports apologists typically conclude that foxes have killed every lamb they eat. Does picking up money you find prove you stole it? Foxes will take the remains of lambs that have died from other causes, but who can blame them? Moreover if foxes did not remove the carrion it would be left to farmers to do so. Sheep farmers should keep the alleged threat of foxes in perspective. The real danger to their lambs lies closer to home.

M J HUSKISSON (founder, Animal Welfare Information Service), PO Box 8, Halesworth, Suffolk.

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