IN answer to Sandra Loder's wish to show respect to animals and Lewis Potter's, misleading, vociferous, minority view, that he should be able to enjoy the spectacle of hounds violently tearing apart hares and foxes (Journal letters, December 30).

It would be helpful if we identified these animals for what they are, not vermin but valid competitors in the struggle to survive, and who sometimes mess up our chosen lifestyle. We should treat them with the respect that we ourselves would expect if, as an intelligent, humane branch of the animal kingdom, we suddenly found ourselves pushed down the pecking order of life? In that last scenario, making a spectacle of our rather grisly death, for the enjoyment of others, is unlikely to be high on humankind's agenda! Meanwhile we can be grateful for the informed consideration of the enlightened majority.

MICHAEL PARKER, Main Street, Sedgeberrow.