Of course the hunting ban should stay but it should also be strengthened. Anyone who wants to set one animal on another is seriously flawed. It is not only foxes involved in this matter but also deer, hares and mink, and in recent times also otters. Otter hunting didn’t stop because hunters gave it up but because it became a protected mammal. Otter hunters became mink hunters and continued to hunt on the same waters, therefore continuing to disturb otters. It’s ridiculous to say that it’s only urban dwellers who favour a ban, it’s like saying all the people who hunt live in the countryside. Fox-hunters favour a ‘straight-necked’ fox which will give them a good run, they’re simply not interested in the lame or the old. Having observed all manner of hunts over the last 40 years I can safely say that participants are bullies, and that’s being polite.