Botham’s right – and foxes aren’t the only menace

Surely the Rooneys can afford a bin man!

Sir Ian Botham’s piece about how the RSPB ignores scientific research to suit its own ends again shows how politically partisan our major charities have become.

With the number of hurdles it puts in the way of the pursuit of country sports, it seems to be all about ‘bashing the toffs’ for the RSPB these days.

It’s the same with the RSPCA – it wants to protect certain animals, but at the expense of others and at the expense of the rural economies that keep our countryside in such fine fettle in the first place. J. McLean, Manchester I completely concur with Sir Ian Botham’s article last week on how foxes and other certain ‘cuddly’ wildlife are protected at any price, to the detriment of our bird populations.

An animal which surely also comes into this ‘cuddly’ category is the otter.

Since they were reintroduced into my area, without consultation, the fishing has declined.

The Environment Agency, to which I pay £40 a year for a threerod licence, has been totally inept at tackling the problem and, arguably, has encouraged the otters’ reintroduction. Many anglers are asking the question: ‘What are we paying out for?’ Hugh Lamberton, Hertfordshire Yes, foxes are verminous predators but perhaps the reluctance of the RSPB to use shooting to keep their numbers down has something to do with the cruelty involved in this method.

A fox is a difficult creature to shoot cleanly, so the possibility of the quarry creeping away to die slowly, after being wounded, is high. Wendy Parker, Solihull Sir Ian Botham needs to take a long, hard look at himself in the mirror. Overlooking the right of the fox, which kills to feed its young and to survive, he sees gamekeepers, who snare, trap and poison countless predators – eagles, hen harriers, buzzards, red kites, stoats and weasels, to name a few – as ‘the elite of the conservation world’. Michael Hughes, Kenilworth, Warwickshire I was extremely disappointed to see once again you’ve given Sir Ian Botham a two-page spread in which to air his view of the RSPB.

I fully support the RSPB in its endeavours to preserve our wildlife.

As for Sir Ian’s views on Chris Packham – he knows more about the natural world than Botham ever could. P. Cox, Blackfordby, Leicestershire Coleen Rooney, left, complains that her footballer husband Wayne doesn’t put the bins out. My heart bleeds for her. What is it with people who have come up in the world? Here she is sitting on an £80million fortune (earned by the non-putter-out-of-bins for kicking a ball around) and she doesn’t even have someone on the payroll for bins duty. I am amazed. Wendy Ley, Little Billing, Northampton It seems that Wayne hasn’t heeded the message from the PM and her husband about domestic ‘boy jobs’ and ‘girl jobs’. Sorry Wayne, but putting out the rubbish is something you should be doing. A. Brown, Kent ‘I wish Wayne would put the bins out!’ complains Coleen. Isn’t it enough that her husband plays rubbish? Give the man a break! Vincent Hefter, Richmond-upon-Thames