Saturday's Letters: Fox incident has no relevance to the hunting debate

He is obviously very much pro-fox hunting – to then use the bizarre, isolated and tragic incident of a fox attacking two baby girls in London to justify his chosen "sport" is utterly reprehensible.

How is this a case for the resumption of fox hunting? If the fox is such a "vicious killer", incapable of living "in harmony with humans" as Mr Stirk claims, why do incidents like this not occur frequently, given how many foxes there are in this country?

He tacitly admits that hunting would do nothing to control the urban fox population, so what is the relevance to this incident in inner-city London? The fact that he signs his letter off with an "I told you so" is quite frankly appalling – when you think what those girls' parents must be going through. I think Mr Stirk ought to be ashamed of himself for writing with such crass self-interest.

From: Paul Newham, Kirkstall, Leeds.

From: Ken Holmes, Cliffe Common, Selby, York.

IT won't be long now before those who didn't know and understand wildlife and the countryside, and who voted for the banning of fox hunting with hounds, will be wishing they had not.

Foxes are now roaming in urban towns and cities in small packs which will inevitably get bigger. As I have mentioned previously on these pages, if ever a rabid fox or dog gets into this country from the continent, the effects will be disastrous.

Rabies is a fatal, contagious, viral disease of dogs and other mammals, ie foxes, transmittable to humans, causing madness and convulsions. So let's have the re-introduction of fox hunting (now) before it's too late.

This is not a letter meant to scaremonger and of fiction. It is fact and distinctly possible.

From: Phyllis Capstick, Hellifield, Skipton, North Yorkshire.

THE practice of catching urban foxes and transporting them to the countryside must stop, rather euthanase them. Country dwellers have enough problems with the ones they already have.

If townspeople love the fox (and he has his place in the order of things) and can see no harm in him, keep him and leave country people, who know best how to manage the countryside, to control the numbers already there.

We are not talking eradication, merely pest control.

Man has dominion over the animals and must do his best for all species, and mainly our food supply.

From: Miss Katherine Watson, Rushton Drive, Bramhall, Stockport, Cheshire.

ON all objective evidence, live animal hunting is a gratuitously cruel ordeal inflicted on animals to provide "a good day's sport".

Hounds are bred and trained for persistent harassment, and fox hunting is definitely not a "natural" method of control when the fox is not a natural prey species and hounds have to be taught to hunt it.

The plethora of havoc and suspect incidents since the Hunting Act came into force indicates a positive need for tougher enforcement of the law.

Hopefully, the new Government will concentrate on achieving economic recovery and leave the Hunting Act on the statute books – as Yorkshire MPs such as Hugh Bayley, Hilary Benn and Clive Betts would wish.

A return to basic needs with housing

From: Quentin Deakin, Newark Road, Crossflatts, Bingley.

LIKE many others, I have often objected to housing development on former garden and greenfield sites on the beautiful outskirts of north Bradford. Therefore, I welcome the recent Government directive to declassify former gardens as "brownfield sites" suitable for development.

It is good, too, that the Government is urging councils to turn away from unpopular greenfield development. However, some of us who take this line also accept the "social need" argument. The issue is not whether to build new housing, but how many, where and in what form.

One answer is surely to redevelop derelict parts of our inner city. Inner-city Bradford is crying out for good residential development. The aim should be to make it a place fit to live and work as well as shop.

Another answer is to build new towns, well planned and "hard-wired" with viable economic activity.

A third is to return to council housing. We need to return to basics, John Prescott, not heap abuse on those who want to preserve ourselves. We don't all live in mansions surrounded by green lawns. Ask an earlier generation of Labour politicians; council housing, new towns and urban renewal are the socialist basics.

Prescott gets his reward

From: Paul Buckley, Haigh, Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

IN response to Terry Duncan of Bridlington (Yorkshire Post, June 7), Ian Hislop did not concentrate exclusively on John Prescott's infidelity on the BBC quiz show Have I Got News For You – reference was made to the imminent peerage Mr Prescott will receive.

Ian Hislop, as usual with wit and intelligence ridiculed John Prescott, just like any other guest on the programme who happens to be a politician from one of the main parties!

If the viewers of this programme do not wish to be upset or offended then they should simply avoid watching it. John Prescott will have been well aware of what he was going to face.

From: Ray Walker, West End Lane, Horsforth, Leeds.

UNLIKE your recent contributor, Terry Duncan, I found Have I Got News For You with "Prezza" in the chair absolutely hilarious.

I was certainly not disgusted with Ian Hislop. However, like most of the country, I have been disgusted at the behaviour of "Prezza" on many occasions, none more so than his antics with his secretary.

Please do not feel sorry for "Prezza," who is laughing all the way to the bank and has been royally rewarded for being a "big-mouthed buffoon".

Let's clean up this country

From: Brian E Oddy, Fieldhead Lane, Birstall, Batley.

IT would seem that the economic downturn has not yet reached the GMB Union for their leadership has money to waste on doing a survey to decide which are the dirtiest streets in the country. Following this, their General Secretary Paul Kenny chooses at the union's annual conference to admonish councils for not keeping their streets cleaner.

We are all fully aware of how filthy this country is. However, it is not the local council who creates the problem but the public themselves including his own members. It is the people of this country who throw litter out of cars, scatter cigarette ends and chewing gum over the pavements, buy fast food and drink and throw away the empties and who deposit unwanted household goods on the roadside.

If Mr Kenny wants to clean up this country, he would be attempting to influence the thinking of the vast majority of people in this country who act in such a disgusting manner.

While not wishing to create any further unemployment, if the people of this country became a bit cleaner, there would be no need to employ armies of street cleaners. Mr Kenny's challenge to the councils is unwarranted.

Conflicting views over Israeli action against Gaza

From: David McKenna, Hall Gardens, Rawcliffe, Goole.

YOUR four apologists for Israel (Yorkshire Post, June 9) totally ignore the fact that the people of Gaza are in dire straits. We hear all the reasons for Israeli action against Palestine and Gaza from their spokesperson on the radio almost every day and the gist of his

responses is that Israel is always right in what it does.

Tell that to the United Nations whose resolutions are consistently ignored by the Israeli government. I think I am right in saying that they have broken, or ignored, more UN Resolutions than Iraq ever did and have got away with it, primarily as a result of blind American support and the fact that there is no oil to grab.

The Israeli government said that there should be democratic elections in Gaza and that's what happened. Sadly for them, the American way of democracy didn't work and they were faced with an election result that they did not like.

The latest crisis is trying to be sidelined by the cries of warmongers to take action against Iran. Hillary Clinton's "condemnation" of Israel's action against the aid convoy was hardly worth the utterance. As our very own "peace envoy" Tony Blair struts his stuff around the millionaires of the world, more people are denied the basics for survival, starve and die because of the actions of a bullying state such as Israel.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the current situation between the Israelis and Palestinians, there is only one solution and it does not come from the barrel of a gun.

From: W Forrest, New Hey Road, Salendine Nook, Huddersfield.

HOW refreshing to read the letters of support for Israel (Yorkshire Post, June 7 and 8), so different from the out of touch comments of Labour leadership candidate David Miliband (Yorkshire Post, June 7).

He needs reminding that it is only a short time since Israel handed over this profitable and productive stretch of land (the Gaza strip), which also provided employment for many Palestinians, in a "land for peace" deal, that led to a split in Ariel Sharon's government, but failed to achieve its object, resulting in a Gaza war that need never have happened.

Being 'posh' is not an issue

From: Susan Abbott, Melbourne Road, St Johns, Wakefield.

IT was interesting to read the article by Jayne Dowle (Yorkshire Post, June 8) re "posh or not". The Prime Minister is sometimes referred to by one of your correspondents as being "posh Dave".

Does it really matter if he is or not, as long as he is capable of getting the job in hand done? Background doesn't and shouldn't matter – surely the most important thing is to treat people with love, respect and kindness, just how each one of us would want to be treated.

I know this is sometimes difficult but surely if we all tried, the world would be a much better place to live in.

Remember a smile, a kind word, doesn't cost anything but it can mean so much.

Numbers game

From: G Ellison, Hawthorne Avenue, Dronfield, Derbyshire.

THERE was uproar under the last New Labour Government when new claimants to benefits in the north-east Derbyshire region had to phone an 0845 number, which made the Government hundreds of thousands pounds in profit.

It hasn't taken the Tory/Lib Dem Government long to change the Chesterfield job centre phone number for any enquiry to an 0845 number.

"We shall look after the less well off," said Cameron and Co.

Saint's day

From: The Rev Barrie Williams, Chubb Hill Road, Whitby.

YOUR photograph of the carving from the shrine of St William of York (Yorkshire Post, June 8) was printed on the day when he is

traditionally commemorated.

Was this just a happy coincidence?