Consign it to the cesspit of history

Foxhunting? [Gazette, December 20] It’s one of our fine old traditions, just like burning “witches”, “baiting” (i.e. torturing) bears, hanging in public and flogging with the cat-o’nine tails. Like them, it should be consigned to the cesspit of history.

The so-called Countryside Alliance has the presumption to award “rural Oscars” [Gazette, December 20 , page 6]. Oscars? Any award conferred by this evil alliance should be called “Sadists”, not “Oscars”.

What other word can describe people who want to chase an animal to exhaustion, and then enjoy watching it being ripped limb from limb while still alive? I hope the Hawthorn Trench project will have the courage to turn down their “Sadist of the Year” award.

Traditional life in Elham did not include foxhunting: read “Harvest of Messerschmitts”, an account of the life of ordinary Elham folk throughout an extraordinary year (1940).

Our countryside is a precious resource, and deserves to be represented by a group with respect for the landscape and the wildlife that lives there. I suggest “Countryside Compassion”, to be led by someone like Neil Ansell (who gave such a good talk at Waterstone’s last year). It is not just about foxes. The brutally cruel horseracing industry sends its unwanted animals (those that cannot run fast enough) to Europe’s largest horse abattoir in the Jura (eastern France).

You can view a video of this horrific place on the French L214 website. Do “retired” foxhunting horses suffer the same fate? And what happens to hounds too old and tired to outrun a fox?