D FILLINGHAM states he has not heard of a human killed by a fox (Letters, March 4), but only for the grace of God and vigilant parents saving their babies has this not happened.

A recent attack saw a four-week-old baby have a finger severed by the fox – the baby was being dragged by his hand and his screaming saved his life. It is only a matter of time before a death will occur.

In my 80 years of farming I have seen the ravages of foxes, the worst being when I was around my mid 20s when I had bought 100 point-of-lay pullets at 50p each (a lot of money in those days). The fox attacked at lunch time and killed 30 of them, biting off their heads. Another ten birds drowned in the cattle trough trying to escape.

I do not support nor am I anti-hunt. I was pointing out how times have changed. We are blessed with an abundance of wildlife, deer, badger, so many pheasants who I feed buckets of wheat daily, plus fresh water and myriads of small birds nuts and fat balls.

On a lighter note I gave up hunting on a Saturday when I found something better to hunt – young farmers!

Pamela Z Frankland, Lodge Farm, Hull Road, York.