[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—" Whipper-In " tells
us of the hunting of the fox and the deer as a countryside industry and as a manly and health- giving pastime. The matter is not one for the display of rabid prejudice, it is clear, but it is one in which we should seek out as far as possible all the facts and face them honestly.
The hunting instinct is surely the old and primitive instinct to kill for food. " Whipper-In " tells us that this instinct is often totally undeveloped, " especially amongst town-bred people." Is this latter class, therefore, a lower evolutionary product than the class which still, after all the centuries, continues to hunt the fox ? Does the custom of smearing the blood of the hunted and dead animal on the faces of young children at the " kill " favour the idea that the parent is the highest evolutionary development in human nature ? A hunted fox knows that he is running for his life—this entails suffering—and there can be no denying the fact that he often has a cruel death which would not bear description.
There is one simple question which every man who engages in sport can ask himself. Am I justified in seeking my pleasure in pursuits which involve suffering in dumb animals ? The tiger hunts and kills for necessary food and not for pleasure —with the huntsman the reverse is to be said.—I am, Sir, Sm.; Buckland Newton, Dorchester. BRUCE C. KELLY.
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