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		Letter to the Editor Derby Evening Telegraph - Wednesday 18 September 2002 Dear Sir Chris Williamson had 500 words in the DET to set out his case against hunting (10 September), but made such a bad job of it, he had to come back with another 350 words attacking my article (letters, 13 September). A pity he seems not to have read my article before attacking it. I did not say that foxhunting was primarily about pest control. I specifically said that the pest control aspect was merely a useful by-product of the sport. On jobs, he quotes an inaccurate figure of "people directly involved in hunting", but entirely ignores the knock-on effects I mentioned. Does he not care about vets, farriers, saddlers, the whole equine industry? He is right that, like most working animals, foxhounds are put down at the end of a happy and useful working life. My point is that if hunting is banned, virtually all foxhounds, young and old, will be put down in a single canine holocaust. On drag-hunting, I explained in my article why it cannot replace foxhunting, but he ignores my point completely and simply repeats the error. He mentions my point that all other culling methods are potentially less humane than hunting with hounds, but makes no attempt to refute it. And he misses the fundamental point of my argument — that where large groups of people take different views on what is basically a moral issue, it is wrong in a democracy for the government to legislate to criminalise one group or the other. This is above all a civil liberties issue — but I suppose I can't expect a Labour Councillor to care about democracy and civil liberties. Yours sincerely, Roger Helmer MEP