SIR - I took great interest in the letter in last week's Gazette by R Westland of London and his/her view that, if fox-hunting were to be banned, it would result in the decline or extinction of the fox.

R Westland claims that we have a healthy population of foxes due to hunting and its part in the balance of nature. I'm afraid I can't agree for these following reasons.

First, we go to R W's home in London. We have been for sometime now aware that even in very urban environments such as London that the fox can survive, breed and flourish, adapting to its surroundings but when was the last time you heard of the hunt galloping over Westminster Bridge and past Big Ben in pursuit of a fox? If the hunting of the fox is so critical to its survival, then how do the urban foxes do so well?

Secondly, R W makes the point that fox-hunting has occurred for 300 years and that we do have a healthy population of foxes because hunting is all part of the balance!

I believe that our healthy population of foxes is due more that hunting them is pretty ineffective and also would like to remind R W that foxes and the creatures they evolved from have been around a lot longer than we humans have and certainly a lot longer than before we started hunting them, so 300 years is a drop in the ocean compared to the foxes time on earth.

In short, if foxes need controlling then Mother Nature will take care of it, it's only when we arrogant humans start throwing our weight around that there becomes a problem in the first place.

Mr ANTI Hunt, Name and address withheld