IWAS interested to read Pat Stokes-Smith’s letter in the Advertiser (December 3).

In it, she advised the fox population to retreat to the safety of the towns rather than suffer the cruelty of the “countr yside tradition” of hunting.

Thirty years ago, when we moved from London to the Herefordshire countryside, we had poultry galore running free on our seven-acre spread.

On the odd occasions when we bothered to do a head count it was inevitable that a number would be missing, but we tolerated the culprit as part of rural living and it never became an issue.

Then one year my two young children hatched 13 ducklings in an incubator and raised them as pets and by the time they’d grown to the fluffy stage they’d become a source of great joy to all of us.

We always ensured that they were back in their pen before dusk.

But, unfortunately, the mother of all storms hit us one evening and we waited for the thunder and lightening to subside before going out to shut them inside.

To our horror and disgust, all 13 dead ducklings lay scattered over the orchard in the pouring rain.

Our kids were devastated and that was the day the family’s tolerance of our foxy friends changed forever.

So yes, Pat Stokes-Smith, let’s get Mr and Mrs Fox to the town as soon as possible. Otherwise, may the “countryside tradition” live on.