14 AUGUST 1982, Page 17

Letters

In the name of sport

Sir: Raymond Carr (31 July) manages to Miss the point in spite of tripping over it several times. He says that people who chase after foxes should boldly admit they enjoy it. He cannot see that it is precisely the enjoyment which makes the practice so disgusting. To kill for food is an inevitabili- ty, without the sphere of moral judgment. To kill for amusement is a disgraceful stain upon the ideal of civilised behaviour, like Picking legs off a spider.

There is, by the way, impartially a more convincing case for calling people 'vermin' than applying the word to the unremarkable fox. People are much more seriously overpopulated, and do far more harm. But Mr Carr would not want to con- trol them by breaking their backs for fun. Brian Masters

47 Caithness Road, London W14