I am not a huntsman or any sort of hunt supporter but I am a thinking person and have lived in the country all my life.

It strikes me Jaine Wild, from Bognor, is not really concerned about the welfare of red foxes but has some sort of persecution complex against the riding community (The Argus, April 15).

I like the red fox. It is a beautiful animal. I would not want it exterminated but it is a pest - if Mrs Wild had kept chickens or ducks, she would know what a pest it can be.

The best method to control foxes has been debated for the past ten years or so. The consensus of rural public opinion is that chasing them out of the area with a pack of hounds is preferable to pest control operatives gassing them in their dens with cyanide or shooting them.

If Mrs Wild has a genuine liking for foxes, she should be actively petitioning car distributors for selling the most effective weapon for killing foxes - at the rate of over a million a year in the UK.

You cannot travel for more than a mile on any of our roads before coming across a poor old fox flattened out on the tarmac.

So, come off it, Mrs Wild, you're not fooling anyone with your antics. You're just spoiling a good day's exercise for horse and dogs.

-John Atkins, Hunters Way, Uckfield