Hunting dogs

Joe Aquilina-St John, in true anti-hunting fashion (The Sunday Times, April 6), chose to twist all the facts written in my letter (March 30) and those written by Ray Zammit and Fabian Borg, and ended up writing a letter full of inaccuracies and gibberish. The man clearly has no idea about hunting, nor has he any respect for either responsible hunters or their hunting dogs.

Mr Aquilina-St John actually believes hunting dogs in Britain kill deer! He also asks why we do not shoot rabbits and game, obviously since he is ignorant of the fact that we do. He confuses the illegal shooting of protected birds with legal sustainable hunting. He goes on to ask who regulates hunting, accusing the Hunting Federation of not having the courage to stamp out illegal hunting. It seems he does not understand that ensuring the observance of regulations and controlling anything illegal (not only hunting) is the job of those whom he refers to as his 'spineless government' and the police.

He admits his only 'hunting' experience was to own two retrievers that enjoyed retrieving balls in the park. It is indeed pathetic that anyone could actually think that a hunting dog's inbred instincts should be restricted to fetching rubber balls. Any dog can bring back rubber balls to its master if only just to please him/her. But it is hunting dogs that are the real retrievers, apart from the fact they include other breeds as pointers, setters and spaniels.

All gun dogs possess the hunting instinct, which is why they are called by that name, but their handlers are needed to instil obedience, and this is where love and training are called for. Mr Aquilina-St John's argument about a dog breed needing 'man's killing instincts' to train it, is an absurd non-starter. I suggest he write about subjects he has more than a smattering of if he wishes to be taken seriously.