I am disappointed that hunting with dogs looks set to return on December 3 as a result of lifting the ban imposed earlier this year because of foot-and-mouth disease.

I have written to Defra (the government department responsible) to suggest, if the disease occurs in livestock as a result of hunting, the farmers concerned should not be compensated.

Hunt hounds feed on raw flesh from "fallen stock". If an isolated case occurred before symptoms were apparent, the sick animal might be collected by the hunt, consumed by the hounds and spread across dozens of farms.

The 1906 Dogs Act makes it an offence to leave an animal such as a cow unburied, simply because a dog might eat it and risk spreading a notifiable disease. However, for some mad reason, hunts are allowed to make a fool of the law and they now pose a major threat.

-Simon Wild, West Sussex Wildlife Protection, Littlehampton