Does hunting help to preserve wildlife in Africa?

I WAS pleased to read Charles Jonga’s excellent article about Zimbabwe’s Campfire Association, which supports hunting and protects wildlife (Mail).

I was kicked off my ranch by Mugabe’s thugs in 2002. I feared that Campfire — the Community Areas Management Programme For Indigenous Resources — had perished at the same time.

If in Britain you have a farm where you keep breeding cattle and don’t sell or cull any each year, the fields will very soon become overstocked.

In Africa, game used to roam freely over a huge area and were culled for food. With the explosion of the human population, game has been confined to national parks or designated hunting areas. It has to be culled or else the area will soon become overstocked. Local people should be entitled to a share of any funds raised through organised professional hunting. This would also help prevent poaching.

MARK MILBANK, Buckland Newton, Dorset. CHARLES JONGA’S article about hunting was patronising and condescending. He thinks Parliament should not pass the

Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill, which would stop trophy hunters bringing back bits of the animals they paid thousands to kill. Hunting is a one-sided fight because the animal doesn’t have any chance of survival. The Bill sends a clear message that Britain finds professional hunting unacceptable, despite Mr Jonga’s attempt to persuade us it is a better option than poaching. Africa and the rest of the world should be tackling poachers and trophy hunters to preserve our ever-decreasing wildlife.

LORRAINE TROTTER, Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham.