I WOULD like to thank all six parliamentary candidates who attended the wildlife hustings.

It provided us with a golden opportunity to quiz them about their perspectives on the drastic state of wildlife in the country.

It could have been enlightening and stimulating, but the chairman allowed the occasion to be entirely hijacked by the badger group.

After two hours of questions from the floor, only two things had been discussed, fox hunting and the badger cull.

My question to the very knowledgeable and experienced chairman is this: why did he allow this to happen?

Half a dozen questions on these matters would have been more than sufficient, leaving time in the evening to discuss the wide variety of issues affecting the myriad of other species of mammals, birds, insects amphibians, and aquatic creatures and the dire state of their habitats.

The biased chair allowed no time for questions about any of these topics.Instead, it turned into a single-issue campaign, with no opportunity to discuss the things that underpin wildlife survival.

It meant that we left the meeting without finding out what any of the candidates' strategies would propose to protect our wildlife and environment.

Valerie Hicken

Eastington