It is my good fortune to be a North Berwick landowner and the ‘captain’ of a local pheasant shoot. So I am in a position to reply to the recent letter about fox snares in the woods around Newbyth (‘Woods are overrun with animal traps’, October 17).

Contrary to the letter-writer’s opinion, there are a lot of foxes about. Indeed, in recent years the population of these nocturnal creatures has been artificially supplemented by the practice of ‘relocating’ captured urban foxes in rural parts of East Lothian.

The main prey of foxes is rabbits. But lately, rabbits have been almost completely wiped out by new diseases. So increasingly, foxes are going for pheasants. Anyone with hens will know that foxes are wanton killers: they slaughter much more than they eat.

So they must be controlled.

Live snaring is perfectly legal. The loop is restricted. It does not choke the fox. It holds the fox until it is shot. It is an offence not to inspect every snare at least once every 24 hours. When a fox is shot, it dies in circumstances that are no less humane than in the case of the animals that provide our casseroles and steaks.

The snares are not permanently set. In accordance with the normal seasonal practice, they will be lifted in a couple of weeks’ time.

I readily concede that we shoot as a sport – as a country pursuit. But all the birds that we shoot end up on local tables.

Last week’s letter-writer seems to think that the presence of pheasants strips the woods of other animal life. That is not true. The ground-feeding of pheasants provides an abundance of seed for many wild birds and small mammals. And the planting of game strips – the green weedy-looking margins on some arable fields – affords both cover and food for many more such creatures. I can assure the writer that the snares that are used are designed, set and placed for the sole purpose of catching foxes. I have never, ever, caught a cat.

Finally, may I ask, please, for just a little tolerance and understanding. For a good number of years now, I and others who own and manage rural land have been facilitating the public’s ‘right to roam’. Among other things, we maintain paths and tracks, remove litter and obstructions and (in my case) provide nature observation points.

I would ask those who exercise that lawful right to roam to acknowledge that they are doing so alongside another group of countryside lovers who are simultaneously pursuing an equally legal – and traditional – activity.

A Farmer North Berwick (name and full address supplied)