As one of your constituents, I am contacting you over my concerns regarding the 2004 Hunting Act, which is currently under threat from the Coalition Government.
I sincerely hope that you will not support any moves to bring back hunting.
An overwhelming majority of the public are opposed to a return to hunting with dogs.
An Ipsos MORI poll in December 2013 showed that 80 per cent of the British public think that fox hunting should not be made legal again; 85 per cent think deer hunting should not be made legal again; and 87 per cent think hare hunting/coursing should not be made legal again.
There is no evidence that foxes cause economically significant damage to farming interests. Studies have, for example, shown that lamb mortality due to foxes is so low as to be considered insignificant.
Scientific studies have shown that hunting or culling has no significant effect on fox numbers.
People who follow hunts know this. Most people ‘ride to hounds’ because they enjoy it, not because they feel the desperate need to control fox numbers.
I urge you to keep this barbaric sport consigned to the history books.