Contrary to the assertions of Ms Sheri Newby (Mailbox, July 19) that repealing the Hunting Act would be a backward step, there is no doubt that the current ban on hunting with hounds is harmful to wildlife welfare.

There is a huge difference in hunting animals for sport, and endeavouring to exterminate them as a "pest" – and the fox is now suffering from this extensively in our countryside.

Registered fox hunts, including all the Leicestershire packs, were subject to the strict rules and code of conduct imposed by the Masters of Foxhounds Association. Before the Hunting Act was imposed five years ago registered hunts observed a strict close season in the summer months when foxes are breeding and rearing their young.

Nowadays, foxes may be killed throughout the year without check.

They are snared widely – and if you have seen a fox snared alive by one leg overnight you will draw your own conclusions about preferable methods. Foxes are also shot with shotguns, where wounding rates are unavoidable – and much of the shooting is at night in "lamping" operations when foxes are lured into beams of light and shot under less than ideal conditions.

In contrast, prior to the Hunting Act a pack of hounds would catch a fox and kill it immediately – or it escaped unscathed.

A veterinary opinion on hunting with hounds, supported by over 560 members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, states: "Hunting with hounds is the natural and most humane method of managing and controlling foxes, hares, deer and mink in the countryside... various arguments against hunting have claimed that 'humane' shooting is always preferable to hunting. A direct hit will cause near instantaneous death, but shooting is intrinsically fallible, even if undertaken properly. No amount of training can totally eliminate mistakes by the beginner, the reckless, the downright unlucky or even the expert."

A fox wounded by shooting may drag itself away to die slowly in agony – and many also do this frequently on our roads after being hit by traffic.

I quite understand why there are so many misconceptions about hunting, but I would urge people to be open minded and seek the true facts on the complex subject of wild animal welfare.

I followed foxhounds all my life and would not have done so if there were not so much abundant evidence that foxes in a properly run hunting country fare far better than those subject to attempts to exterminate them with the gun and the snare.

Prior to the Hunting Act the hunts merely culled the fox population to a level acceptable to local farmers, and planted and cared for Leicestershire's wonderful fox coverts which are sanctuaries for all forms of wildlife.

Leicestershire and Rutland have a great tradition of lawful foxhunting. May it return soon when the incoherent, inconsistent Hunting Act is abolished. Currently it is lawful to kill a rat or a rabbit with a dog – but not a hare or a fox.

How ridiculous is that?

Michael Clayton, Morcott.