JOE Duckworth, the new CEO of the League Against Cruel Sports, has recently been sending out letters (Have Your Say, August 2), encouraging readers to report the activity of their local hunts.

Not only is he inciting a wholly unnecessary 'big brother' citizen surveillance operation, he also demonstrates a comical lack of understanding of the Hunting Act.

Mr Duckworth believes that hunts are regularly breaking the law and 200 have been convicted. Well I hate to burst his particular bubble, but of the 181 convictions under the Act, only six of those relate to registered hunts, the rest have been for poaching — which has absolutely nothing to do with the hunts.

When he talks about his "professional observers" he is mainly referring to a tiny number of obsessed individuals who hide in bushes or openly film hunt followers. Is this really the act of a registered charity? Mr Duckworth is basically condoning vigilantism when the hunts' stated intention is to hunt within the law.

The Act is now seen by those who were responsible for it, including Tony Blair, as a bad piece of legislation. Mr Duckworth and his band of activists are doing little more than wasting police time.

Rachel Evans

Wales Countryside Alliance