IN the Carmarthen Journal of January 19, C. Richardson writes in your letters section that the coverage was 'too anti-hunt'. Well many of us feel that the coverage has been too much in favour of the hunt!

In Bruce Sinclair's article it stated that 1,500 spectators welcomed the hunt to town. I was there and while I would agree that there was a crowd watching the spectacle it was no where near that number.The town editions of the Journal carried a large colour photograph of the hunt on it's front page as well. I believe that the Journal actually does support the rural community and that there is no pretence about it, as suggested by Richardson.

However in the Journal of January 12 on pages 32 & 33 you carried 12 photographs of local hunts, with no mention of any other opinion or any photographs showing what really happens when these hunts go out into the countryside and kill wildlife for sport.

Surely the young riders shown in your newspaper should not be introduced to this disgraceful and illegal blood sport. I am sure that you would not wish to publish the photographs that we have of the carnage caused by hunts to our local wildlife

You are aware, I'm sure, that recent polls have shown that more than 75 per cent of the population are against hunting for sport and agree with the Hunting Act 2004. The real reason that this Parliament will not repeal the Act is that they do not have enough votes to make it happen and in effect David Cameron has kicked the hunter's fox into the very long political grass, much to our present MP's chagrin.

While these hunts would claim that they are carrying on a long tradition, we would claim that such cruel blood sports no longer have a place in a decent civilised society. It was in 1835 that the first Act to ban bull baiting was introduced and even then the Army was sent in to enforce the Act in 1838. It took 30 years to ban bull and bear baiting in Britain, at the time the Lincoln Gazette stated that the magistrates received a "peremptory mandate" from the Home Office to suppress "this relic of feudal barbarism".

It was also common practise to send little boys up chimneys; women did not have the vote and not so long ago many people kept slaves. Thankfully civilisation has moved on and decent people no longer derive pleasure from causing animals to suffer this cruelty.

The spectacle on New Year's Day in Carmarthen with people in red coats on horses and a pack of hounds running amok does have a certain historical appeal to people, but most would be aghast if they knew of what really happens when these hunts ride away into open countryside and endeavour to go about their ghastly business. There are to be many more hunts in the area and most of these will have our members watching and observing, to ensure that these hunts do not break the law.

David Petersen

Chairman of West Wales Animal Aid