A Drumcondra fox and a question of humanity

Sir, – Following John Fitzgerald’s heartfelt plea to abandon fox hunting (May 28th) and Chris Fitzpatrick’s delightful encounter with a young fox (June 1st), I am encouraged to write how a friend) who lives in the Drumcondra area has had a very close relationship with a fox for some time now. A deep friendship and trust has developed between him and the fox.

My friend cooks chicken, breaks it up and puts it out beside his car, which is parked in his front garden. As soon as the light goes on in the house, the fox appears. He comes into the garden, peeps around the end of the car and now ventures almost up to thefront door of the house to get his chicken. This is a nightly occurrence. He occasionally takes his meal into the next door garden.

A little while ago my friend noticed that the fox’s tail looked rather “shabby”. He suspected mange and asked his vet who gave him a tablet. This was put in his chicken. A week later the fox looked much better.

How can mankind be so heartless as to deliberately hunt, cause pain and death to such a lovely creature? Once again, congratulations to John Fitzgerald for his tireless condemnation of a cruel and senseless practice. – Yours, etc,