Has the ban made any difference?

AS MANY country folk forecast, the ban on fox hunting has turned out to be bad news for foxes - because their numbers are in decline in many areas.

In the long and often bitter debate before hunting with dogs was finally banned, field sports supporters said that farmers and landowners would turn to shooting, snaring or - in some cases - illegally poisoning foxes to keep numbers down should control by hunting cease.

Now, a survey organised by the Countryside Alliance to mark the second anniversary of the ban has shown that 36% of farmers, gamekeepers and former huntsmen believe that fox numbers in their areas have shown a marked decline.

Significantly, the decline has been steepest in lowland areas where there were active hunts. In upland districts like the Yorkshire Dales, 44% say the numbers of foxes has not changed. These tend to be sheep-grazing country and hill farmers have long claimed that foxes attack young lambs - a claim ridiculed by hunt saboteurs.

However, people who thought the fox population would soar after the hunting ban will be disappointed: only 26% of country folk polled thought that there were now more at large.

There has also been an increase in fox disease in some areas. The field sports lobby has long claimed that hunting reduced the spread of disease because hounds tended to catch weaker, sick foxes whilst fit young one regularly got away.