KEN HOLMES’S letters are always top notch.

However, I must take him to task when he claims the increase in the number of foxes has any relationship to wolves, whose numbers have dwindled so much that they are considered an endangered species (Letters, February 18).

Furthermore, did fox-hunting have much effect on the actual number of foxes around? I think not. In no way is that barbaric practice justified.

Foxes become urbanised because of lack of food in their natural environment due to the steady destruction of the countryside.

Rats are a much bigger problem, so why doesn’t the tally-ho brigade chase them with a pack of Jack Russells?

Incidentally, Ken, there is not one documented case in the history of mankind of a wolf attacking a human.

D McTernan, Fossway, York.