Don't let them cull buzzards

For more than 200 years man has shamefully persecuted the buzzard (and all raptors) in a misguided attempt to eradicate it by indiscriminate shooting and poisoning.

If that were not bad enough, its numbers were decimated by the use of organochlorine pesticides from the 1940s to the 1960s and the introduction of myxomatosis which had a devastating effect on rabbits (the buzzard's food of choice) driving this beautiful bird close to extinction.

Thankfully, the banning of insecticides and a growing partial immunity to myxomatosis in rabbits, plus public awareness, has seen a recovery to the point where the buzzard population is getting close to its pre-1950s levels but probably still below its natural balance point.

But the likes of H Wooldridge now want to introduce culling on the grounds that buzzards are killing off his garden birds.

Most informed naturalists agree the reduction of all bird species numbers is solely due to Man's meddling, such as loss of habitat and suppression of the natural food chain.

Culling is another example of Man meddling with nature. It is not the answer.

T Cattley, Ifton Heath