Barbaric cull of magpies (From Gazette & Herald)

Barbaric cull of magpies

3:31pm Wednesday 1st June 2011 in Letters

I UNDERSTAND the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust is planning a selective cull of magpies by the Larsen Cage method, using a live magpie as bait.

This cull is abhorrent and almost beyond belief, especially when most other wildlife organisations, including the RSPB, do not recognise any link between the magpie and the decrease in any other species, including our native songbirds.

Indeed, most organisations in Europe now attribute such decreases in population to climate change factors and the diversification of land use in our countryside.

I will be asking my MP and others to raise this matter in Parliament to stop this barbaric and unnecessary practice.

Ian Dewar, Middleton