PROTECT Our Wild Animals [POWA] urges the Prime Minister to reject the call for repeal of the Hunting Act by Farming Minister Jim Paice. And to denounce and clamp down on the 'cynical subterfuge' being employed by hunts nationwide to flout the spirit and letter of the 'ban' on hunting with hounds.

Many Hunts exploit weak enforcement and the act's many loopholes to chase and kill live quarry. They pretend to be using certain exemptions or 'Trail Hunting', pretend they lost control of their hounds by 'accident' every time they are seen chasing forbidden quarry.

Among other incidents this month:- a fox was 'accidentally' chased into a family's garden in Essex and bludgeoned to death feet from the horrified residents, a beloved cat was 'trail hunted' to death in Yorkshire its corpse contemptuously returned days later in a dog food bag; and a fox was 'trail hunted' through a housing estate and on to a major road in Shropshire, in another 'freak accident'.

The 'cynical subterfuge' a judge recently condemned hunters using in trying to hide their crimes is actually widespread, with many hunts arrogantly mocking the authorities and the popular will. They behave as though above the law, as inner-city gangs did in August. Like looters, these rural gangsters should be brought to heel. When criminals circumvent the law, it's strengthened to stop them, not repealed.

'Chocolate box' images of hunt meets, not only disguise the cruel truth from the public but comfort the lawless. Images of the brutal and sordid reality of hunting, its 'sharp end', where terrified and exhausted wild animals are ripped at by slavering dogs urged on by excited hunters, would send soaring the proportion of the public wanting these barbaric activities properly banned, even above its present 3-1. Then, perhaps, those who should know better would stop, openly or tacitly, supporting this vile and vicious 'sport'.

Alan Kirby, M.Sc., Associate,

Protect Our Wild Animals