Sir, The hunting of badgers became illegal under the Badgers Act 1973. The practice of sending terriers into badger setts to flush out and fight badgers was very popular with working men who could not aspire to the more sophisticated fox and stag hunting.

What they had in common with present-day hunters, however, was that they regarded badger hunting as their traditional right. They also claimed to be controlling vermin, and many vowed to continue doing it.

The attitude of the police did nothing to discourage them, but there was no shortage of volunteers to collect evidence of breaches of the law, and private prosecutions followed. I was the prosecuting solicitor in some of those cases, in which offenders were sent to prison.

After a while the flow of prosecutions dried up, from which I inferred that the badger hunters had lost their appetite for their “sport” at about the same time as they lost their appetite for prison food.

Yours,
TOM HART,
7 Hookway Village,
Crediton, Devon EX17 3PU.
tomhart@supanet.com
February 17.

From Mr Adrian Brodkin

Sir, If those intending to defy the ban on hunting with hounds are prosecuted by the police with the same vigour as they prosecute car drivers using mobile phones, the outlook for foxes remains bleak.

Yours faithfully,
ADRIAN BRODKIN,
93 Kingsley Way, N2 0EL.
February 17.

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