BA MATTHEWS (You Say, June 8), suggests that everyone should switch from foxhunting to draghunting.

For those who take part, draghunting's a fine equestrian sport, but it plays no part in controlling the red fox, and neither does it contribute to conservation.

The Masters of Draghounds Association has made it perfectly clear that their sport is no substitute for traditional hunting.

As for the comment about tree-planting at the Worcestershire Hunt Kennels, the five million field sports enthusiasts are already the biggest single force for conservation in this country.

There's an area equivalent to 50,000 football pitches planted with game cover crops annually, providing habitat and food for a wide variety of bird life during the winter months.

The fact is that 70 per cent of all woodland is now planted with country sports in mind.

Anglers are also campaigning against pollution and over-abstraction from our rivers and hunts manage thousand of acres of woodland and promote hedge replanting.

When the anti hunt/animal rights movement have made anywhere near this contribution to looking after the countryside and its wildlife, then they might be taken a little more seriously than they are now.

R H HAWKER, Malvern.