Fox-hunting arguments are contradictory

I WELCOME the Millward Brown opinion poll finding that two out of every three Irish people want fox hunting banned (Irish Examiner, April 9).

The reaction of the field sport lobby has again dredged up old arguments in favour of hunting, which rely on a set of contradictory claims.

“We serve the farmers by keeping down the fox population,” they say. In the next breath, they say, “Sure, we hardly ever catch a fox, most of them get away.” So which is it? They cannot be controlling fox numbers if they seldom catch them.