Animal strife

I HAVE watched every wildlife series Sir David Attenborough has narrated on TV and they are outstanding.

I am in awe of the natural world and find it fascinating to learn how these incredible animals survive, often against all odds. His latest series The Hunt, which ended on Sunday, was breathtaking — with one exception.

My husband and I grew increasingly depressed as the final episode unfolded: by the end, we both felt sad and angry in equal measure. We were repeatedly shown footage of magnificent wild creatures being chased, traumatised and frightened to death in the name of ‘conservation’.

Do-gooders say ‘some discomfort’ is necessary to improve the lot of the animals featured but we disagree with everything they were doing.

To watch a terrified harpy eagle chick being dragged from its high nest in the forest canopy, hung upside down via a rope around its feet until the so-called ‘expert’ reached the forest floor, was horrifying. Instead of gently descending, he accidentally plummeted to the ground still holding the eagle. Amazingly, both survived, only for the poor eagle to have a radio transmitter fixed to its back.

We need to protect some animals from humans, like saving tigers and rhinos from poachers, but why can’t people stop scaring wildlife for the sake of ‘scientific research’? One polar bear was chased by men in a helicopter for ages before being darted, having blood and tissue samples taken and being tagged — and it had been caught ten times before. Mrs JEANETTE CArTEr,

Long Melford, Suffolk.