“Sarah, you obviously thoroughly enjoy following the hunt and feel very passionate about it but I am against all cruelty to animals and I do find it impossible to understand why anyone would enjoy seeing a wild mammal fleeing for its life from a big gang of humans, dogs and horses and then be ripped apart, or dug out of its hiding place by terrier men who set their dogs upon it. There is no justification for it at all and it is not a quick death. Hounds do not kill foxes instantly with a 'nip to the back of the neck'. Canids do not kill in this way but rather tend to bring down their prey by a series of bites and tears to their quarry. Post-mortem evidence from veterinary surgeons support that this is how foxes have died. the film shows hunt followers cheering and whooping for joy when the fox is caught which is really disturbing.
The documentary also features a woman in cornwall who's elderly cat was torn apart and disenbowelled in front of her by out of control hounds who invaded her garden in 2009. Incidents like these happen all the time across the country and I find it abhorent and completely unacceptable. But hey its fun for afew people so who cares about the rest of us who are adversely affected.”

“Surely this issue comes down to this: what pleasure do you get from chasing and killing a wild animal?

Surely you can have just as much fun by dressing up in your hunting clobber and charging around the countryside on your horse. Why the need to kill something?”

“OK I've now seen the video clips - and the images of the fox being killed confirms my opinion - it's not pretty, but it is quick. A fox that dies slowly of poison probably looks quite pretty but that only makes the viewer feel better, not the fox.
As for the hounds being killed on the railway line, I wonder if that was the infamous occasion when hounds were lured across by hunt saboteurs. I have seen this myself - hounds hunting on one side of the railway and a line of saboteurs, several with horns and the rest calling, trying to get them to cross in front of the train. I complained to police who agreed that this was happening but they didn't have the manpower to stop it or arrest the perpetrators.
No I don't "enjoy" seeing an animal killed, in 35 years of following hunts on horse and on foot I have only seen it once - the Saturday before the ban came into effect, so it's never been an incentive.
If you feel the way you do about hunting, what on earth do you feel about prawn sandwiches where dozens of animals are killed fairly horribly, by boiling, just for the pleasure of tasting their flesh?
I return to my original point - if the anti hunt cause has to rely so heavily on tainted evidence, how can you believe any of it?
In February 2006 Ms Ward said she did not see the supposed hunted animal, did not know what species it was and did not find its body. In November 2007, describing the same incident, she said a deer was killed in front of her and a group of witnesses. Both these accounts cannot be true, the question is why on earth did she feel it necessary to change the story?”

“What about all the gnats and mosquitoes that are routinely slaughtered at dusk every day by murdurous motorists driving along at more than 5mph ?? Surely we should limit cars to 5mph to stop this evil genocide !”

“Sarah, have you seen the video clips in the letter, are you suggesting that they are false?

Rather than make a point of what originally was or not seen could you tell me why you seem to support the activities shown in the film?

Is it really fun to see an animals killed in this way?

Do you enjoy seeing animals being killed in this way?

Is this Sport?”

“... and it DOES matter whether she saw the deer or not, since she now claims she did.”

“My point is a little bit of, erm, exaggeration seems to be going on. She said one thing shortly after the incident, she said a completely different thing a bit later on when she had a film to promote. If your objections to hunting are formed on false information (if that is what is happening here), then surely you should make an effort to find out the truth. It may change your mind.
Anyway, if the deer really was killed in that way (and Ms Ward was unable to discover whether one had been killed at all in the first version of her story) it was neither according to the sport of fox hunting (since it was a deer) or stag hunting (where the animal is shot), but an unintentional accident. If it happened at all - Ms Ward said (in February 2006) she was unable to determine even what species of animal had been killed, her only evidence being something that she thought was a smear of blood.”

“Sarah, and your point is?

It does not matter one iota whether she saw the deer or not it is still a disgusting activity to kill animals in this way and call it SPORT.”

“This wasn't quite what Ms Ward described at the time. When she first complained about this incident in February 2006, she told the local and national press in many interviews that she saw a pack of hounds in private woodland opposite her house cross into another private plantation, from where she said she heard screaming which "might have been a fox or a deer". Later, after they had gone, she went into the woodland and discovered bloodstains but no body. It wasn't until November 2007 that she claimed to have seen a deer being chased before being killed in front of her and others. Hmmm....”