[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,— Miss' Pitt's article in
your December 12th number is peculiarly unconvincing. She writes : " The Red Deer of the Highlands depend for their preservation on deer-stalking, as do the Exmoor Deer on hunting." She applies the same argument in the case of pheasants and partridges ; also foxes. In the great national parks of Canada one sees large herds of buffalo, elk, &c., living peacefully amid perfectly natural surroundings, though they are never hunted ; why, then, need the wild life of these islands be subjected to a type of persecution that to a growing number of people seems merely bloodthirsty and cruel ?
Later in the article we read : The supposed drawn-out suffering of a hunted fox is more imaginary than real " ! Has Miss‘Pitt, I wonder, ever been chased by a pack of hungry and relentless animals whose one ambition was to tear her into pieces ? The psychology of hunting folk is hard to
Previous page
