AS THE hunting season draws to a close, is it not time for the minority of registered hunts "testing the law" to rethink their policy?

A report reveals that the Vale of Lune Hunt are using bloodhounds to follow footprints left by a cross-country runner.

The Cheshire Forest Hunt, on the other hand, according to a recent report, spent a typical day "drawing" woods and "picking up trails" in an area crossed by the A50 trunk road.

MPs are calling on the Government to make the police more effective in monitoring hunt activity and arresting illegal fox and hare hunters, and a three to one majority of the population support the Hunting Act.

It is no longer considered legitimate sport to harass an animal to death with hounds, and the only really acceptable or legal way to keep hunting alive is to substitute proper predetermined drag lines as in North East Cheshire or bloodhounds "hunting the clean boot" as in the Vale of Lune area.

MISS KATHERINE WATSON, Rushton Drive, Bramhall, Stockport, Cheshire.