Death will linger for fox with mange (From Gazette Series)

Death will linger for fox with mange

SIR - What power the fox wields in this country - even to the extend of interfering with army training! It is indeed laughable if it were not so tragic - that is tragic for the fox.

Why should a landowner who is banned from controlling the fox population by traditional methods, then allow the government to use his land as a favour, free, gratis and for nothing?

A vixen averages four cubs per year. It has no predators so numbers will increase rapidly. With the loss of the rabbit population, food is scarce.

The fox is a killer. It understands the chase but the lingering death of the mange is tragic for the fox, domestic animals and the countryside.

My house is by the side of a fox run used by generations of foxes and in an area where the hunt does not operate because of the terrain. I am aware of mange in a family of foxes now with the cubs almost fully grown. The consequences of banning the hunt could be horrendous.

Dreena Menelaws, Byron Road, Dursley