Dominic Webber of the Countryside Alliance appears to be clasping at straws in his attempt to demean the opponents of hunting (Letters, January 8).

Telephone polls have shown time and again 87 per cent of people want hunting banned. The Countryside Alliance can bang on trying to convince us otherwise but I am pleased to say their days of barbaric hunting look certain to be assigned to history in the not-too-distant future.

Mr Webber claims foxes would suffer a worse plight by other cruel methods of population control if hunting was banned. Perhaps he could clarify exactly who will be carrying out these violent executions of foxes and why?

Foxes regulate their own population according to food sources available and will not breed if an alpha vixen is breeding in their territory.

Recent research has also proved that if you kill a female, it simply causes other females to reproduce to re-balance the numbers.

The reality is that foxes are run into the ground until, exhausted and terrified, they are ripped to pieces by hounds.

It is an insult to call this a sport - it is barbaric cruelty and one can only question the twisted mind of someone getting their kicks from such a bloody-thirsty execution.

-Gemma Millwood, Peacehaven