SIR — R M Morris's letter (Free Press November 20) reminds me of the "cockerel syndrome" - the one where someone moves from town to country and then complains that their neighbour's cockerel wakes them up early in the morning, or that the farmyard next door smells!

Hounds and hunting are part of the very fabric of the English countryside and an integral part of our cultural identity - surely something which many people would wish to protect.

I do not know what evidence R M Morris has that hunts are breaking the law, but only a few days ago the spokesman for the so-called League Against Cruel Sports explained that he considered the increase in the numbers of people out hunting to be due to the fact that hunts were not killing foxes. R M Morris seems to suggest the reverse.

Those of us who actually go trail-hunting, of course know that the increase is due to ever more people coming out in support for the repeal of a bad law.

Of course we must always be free to hold different opinions - but any country person will know that when someone starts saying that hunting is "cruel and barbaric" then they have no knowledge of the reality of the natural world and country life, whatever claim they may make to the contrary.

No one who has seen a fox near death from mange or with a shattered leg from a road hit or with a gangrenous wound from shooting would seriously suggest that fox control by a pack of hounds,- where an animal is killed quickly, humanely and certainly, or escapes completely unharmed - is cruel.

Fortunately, most people who have taken an interest in these matters now recognise that the ban on hunting which the Hunting Act 2004 introduced was wrong and based on blatant prejudice. We have that from Labour MPs themselves.

Dennis Skinner's remark to Jim Barrington at the Labour conference in 2004 tells us much of the bizarre nature of their perception - "This Bill is nothing to do with animal welfare - it is for the miners". And Peter Bradley MP said it was "class war".

Lord Donoughue, former Minister for Farming and Food, summed up the anti-hunting position:

"I recognise certain familiar characteristics among those who want to ban hunting. They don't care about welfare or cruelty. They just dislike certain people. They are guided by ignorance and prejudice."

For the sake of both personal liberty and animal welfare, it is clear that the Hunting Act must be repealed.

I do not agree with R M Morris's views - I consider them puritanical and ignorant - but I will support his right to hold them.

I can only urge that he should understand that the methods of fox control being used at present are in essence far crueller than hunting ever was and that he should face reality and get out there to support the repeal of this absurd law which does nothing for animal welfare and so much to harm our wildlife and environment.

Tony Dunn,

Old Scoresdown,

Nr Lynton.