MADAM - J Williams (Why put off necessary cull? SNJ, Nov 28), advocates the cull of badgers on the supposition that they are responsible for the spread of bovine TB in cattle. Even supposing this were the case, but I firmly believe the reverse is more likely, then he proposes the unacceptable wiping out of another of our native animal species.

"Cull" is too small a word for the decimation of our wildlife and its habitats. Too long has our countryside become something of an inconvenience to the farmers and speculators who demand larger profits.

There was a time when farmers had great respect for the countryside, its flora and fauna. It was a harmonious and necessary relationship, each depending upon the other. Now, there is an increasing demand for cheap cloned food, ever more monstrous machinery; and worse the disappearance of farming husbandry, which ensured that practices such as crop rotation were equitable to insect, bird, animal and flora life on the land.

Today we see immense swathes of unnatural oil seed rape, uninterrupted by the once familiar hedgerows, each plant sprayed to be the perfect replica of its neighbour and the ground beneath never daring to raise a single wild flower. This awful scourge is an abhorrence to sufferers of hay fever and wildlife alike but in the pursuit of profit this is of little consequence.

In conclusion may I suggest to J Williams the strong possibility that bovine TB is more a product of intensive, unnatural farming, than of the persecuted badger.

B R Coates Rodborough Common Stroud What do you think? Add your comments below