YOUR correspondent John Phelps writes that 'Hunting with dogs is obviously cruel', Hunting letter is yet another red herring, Letters, July 13).

However, it is worth pointing out that this is no longer the view of the League Against Cruel Sports. LACS chief executive Douglas Batchelor recently outlined his opposition to a law outlawing all cruelty to wild mammals because it would make it impossible to prosecute hunts for merely chasing a wild mammal with a dog, because this does not constitute cruelty. He clearly states that it would have to be shown that the hunt killed the animal in a cruel manner for a prosecution to take place.

It is quite clear from this that LACS would not view flushing of wild deer as cruel because it only involves finding and chasing the deer with a pack of dogs; no animal is killed.

Mr Phelps refers to Defra as stating it is not illegal for hunts to flush deer with dogs in this manner without shooting them. In fact, what Defra says is that hunts do not have to shoot deer that are accidentally flushed, but where the exemption is relied upon they must be shot.

They do not appear to know whether the use of an entire pack of hounds to flush and chase wild deer is legal or not. This is why I am contacting the police to see if they object legally to this activity which LACS do not regard as cruel. If they do not, it is clear that the hunts will be able to continue flushing without having to kill the deer, an activity which LACS do not regard as cruel. No legal objections have yet been received so it looks as though the hunts will be able to resume this activity next season.

Giles Bradshaw

Rose Ash